The objective of this study was to develop a screening process for the analysis of sexual assault samples. Recently, the Society of Forensic Toxicologists created a committee to address the issue of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) in the toxicology field. This committee prepared a list of drugs that could be, or have been, used in DFSAs. The list comprises about 50 compounds, including illicit, prescription, and over-the-counter drugs. Using this list, our laboratory wanted an easy, fast, and sensitive method to analyze a urine sample for all 50 of these drugs. We screened and confirmed for 20 compounds, including cocaine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, opiates, methadone, alcohol, and PCP. A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric screening method that was able to detect the remaining 30 compounds following 1 extraction and using only 2 mL of urine was developed. The process is inexpensive and uses equipment available in most forensic toxicology laboratories. This method is recommended for any laboratory that commonly receives specimens collected from sexual assault victims and is interested in a more thorough analysis.

Recently, the abuse of prescription opiates as alternatives to heroin has become a national concern. The determination of a six-drug opiate panel, codeine, morphine, 6-acetylmorphine, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxycodone, in hair and oral fluid using solid-phase extraction and capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is described. Oral fluid was obtained from the donor by insertion of absorptive collectors into the mouth. Hair was collected from the patient and powdered using stainless steel ball bearings in a mini bead-beater apparatus. Opiates present in the samples were extracted from a buffered, aqueous matrix using a solid-phase cartridge. The extracts were concentrated and the methoxime/BSTFA derivatives prepared in order to eliminate interference from the keto-opiates. The extracts were separated by GC-MS in electron impact mode. By utilizing methoxyamine, we were able to produce the methoxime derivatives required for single derivative production and chromatographically separate all six opiates. The routine analysis of these opiates in hair and oral fluid using GC-MS is described for the first time.

A procedure for the determination of oxycodone in meconium using direct ELISA microplate technology followed by electron impact gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is described for the first time. The abuse of oxycodone (OxyContin) has been widely discussed in mainstream media, and it has been described as a cheap form of heroin. Oxycodone has been reported as having a high degree of abuse and potential complications in neonates from maternal drug use. Using a standard enzyme multiplied immunoassay screening technology, the cross-reactivity of oxycodone to the morphine antibody is only 5-6%. A positive screening value would require a high concentration of drug to be present, so a protocol for the detection of oxycodone in meconium using a direct ELISA microplate immunoassay followed by GC-MS was developed. The assay is now routinely used in our laboratory.