Confirmatory Testing: Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) is a combination of two techniques: Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. It uses internal standards and provides identification and quantification of drugs and serves as the gold standard in the confirming the abuse of prohibited drugs such as heroin. PRINCIPLE Gas Chromatography Gas Chromatography is a technique used to separate the drugs that may be present in the patient's...

Read More

REFERENCES

Heroin and Your Veins: The Incredibly Disgusting Story (Cobb, A.) A Health Educator’s Guide to Understanding Drugs of Abuse Testing (Dasgupta, A.) Evaluation of Saliva/Oral Fluid as an Alternate Drug Testing Specimen (Crouch et al.) DRUG TESTS: THEIR USES AND LIMITATIONS (Tam Wai Ming) URINALYSIS AND BODY FLUID (STRASINGER) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/bitter-harvest/from-poppy-to-heroin/step-1-planting-opium-poppy/3168/ http://www.streetdrugs.org/html%20files/Heroin.html http://www.buzzle.com/articles/saliva-drug-test-facts.html ...

Read More

Heroin Withdrawal and Treatment

 HEROIN WITHDRAWAL Withdrawal from heroin abuse may cause abrupt withdrawal symptoms to the user causing him/her great discomfort. The first step in heroin addiction is detoxification. However, detox alone cannot completely treat heroin addiction. Sudden withdrawal from this addictive drug can be fatal for heavily dependent users who are in poor health. WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS When an addict stops heroin use, this...

Read More

Hair Follicle Testing

           Metabolites or circulating drugs may be detected in hair. First, these are deposited in the hair follicle and as the hair grows out, the metabolites will get trapped on the hair shaft and then in the keratin matrix. Drugs may also enter the hair through sweat, oil or the external environment. A 3-cm hair specimen may be able to indicate whether or not the person has been abusing drugs in the past...

Read More

Oral Fluid Testing

Drug abuse testing may be performed using saliva as the specimen. Mixed saliva or “oral fluid” comes from the salivary glands, oral mucosa and gingival cervices. Drugs from the blood are transported to the saliva by means of passive diffusion. Within just a few minutes, the drugs and metabolites present in plasma are distributed to the salivary glands and are diffused into the saliva after parenteral administration. Therefore, the concentration...

Read More

Blood Testing

Aside from urine as the widely used specimen of choice for testing of heroin, blood can also be used in heroin determination because as it may not stay that long in the blood long as in urine, it will rather give a good correlation between the level of drug and its pharmacologic deficiency in the body.  Heroin stays in the blood up to 6hours. Sample collection: A finger prick can be enough to use as a specimen sample but venipuncture...

Read More

Urine Testing

Urine is the most widely used specimen for drugs of abuse testing because of the advantages of large specimen volume and relatively high drug concentrations that render drug detection comparatively easier than in other specimens. Drugs in urine are detectable by standard drug test on urine between 1-3days. Urine sample of individual is under tightly controlled condition. The person will likely be asked to go to a testing facility where he or...

Read More