Evaluation of an Oral Fluid Collection Device and a Solid-Phase Extraction Method for the Determination of Coca Leaf Alkaloids by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

Some South American countries have ancient traditions that may pose legal problems, such as the consumption of coca leaves, as this can provide positive results for cocaine use after the analysis of biological samples. For this reason, it is necessary to find specific markers that help differentiate legal from illegal consumption, such as tropacocaine, cinnamoylcocaine, and especially hygrine and cuscohygrine. In this work, two techniques for collecting biological samples are compared: the Quantisal Oral Fluid collection device and passive drooling.

Simple Method for the Determination of THC and THC-COOH in Human Postmortem Blood Samples by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

A simple and sensitive analytical method was developed for qualitative and quantitative analysis of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and its metabolite 11-nor-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-carboxylic acid (Δ9-THC-COOH) in human postmortem blood using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The method involved a liquid-liquid extraction in two steps, one for Δ9-THC and a second one for Δ9-THC-COOH. The first extract was analyzed using Δ9-THC-D3 as internal standard.

Statistical Analysis of Toxicological Data of Victims of Traffic Accidents in Galicia (Spain).

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a very common behavior in our environment and a serious problem for public health. On the one hand, in 2016, 400,000 people died in the world in traffic accidents in which ethanol was involved. On the other hand, traffic accidents in which the use of drugs of abuse other than ethyl alcohol accounted for more than 160,000 deaths worldwide in 2017.