L: Hair testing for drugs of abuse

The 1990s have seen an increase in illicit drug consumption in Croatia. A number of rapid screening assays and quantitative GC/MS methods have been developed for the determination of drugs in urine (1). However, urine sampling time is critical because all drugs, with the exception of marihuana, can be detected in urine only within 2–3 days after the use (2). Urine testing provides a reliable answer for recent intake. These limitations urged for a biological marker which could yield a cumulative reflection of a long–term drug abuse. Hair analysis is a reliable tool for confirming or excluding chronic drug abuse (3–6). As hair grows approximately 1 cm a month, the history of drug abuse can be traced months back, depending on the length of the hair. As a biological matrix, hair has particular advantages: it can easily be obtained, it is not readily adulterated and, thanks to its stability, it can be stored and transported without particular precaution. Cocaine is the leading subjects in literature on hair analysis, and is followed by opiates and amphetamines (7). This paper describes gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) methods developed for the determination of opiates (morphine, codeine, heroin and 6–acetylmorphine), cocaine, methadone and amphetamines (amphetamine; methamphetamine; 3,4–methylenedioxyamphetamine, MDA; and 3,4– methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, “Ecstasy “) in hair (8). The methods had been applied for over two years in the analysis of hair of young subjects suspected for drug abuse. In addition, the paper gives an evaluation of the incidence of drug abuse in young people in Croatia