title: Screening for drugs in forensic blood samples using EMIT urine assays.
abstract: A screening method for the detection of drugs in haemolysed whole blood has been evaluated. Methanolic extracts of 300 forensic blood samples known to be positive or negative for drugs were analysed with EMIT d.a.u. assay kits for amphetamine, cannabinoids, opiates and benzodiazepines (the latter to analyse for diazepam and the main metabolite N-desmethyldiazepam). There were very few false positive results, except for the amphetamine assay in postmortem blood samples, where 9% were false positive. For amphetamine and cannabinoids a few false negatives were found, these were from samples with very low drug concentrations. No false negatives were found for opiates and diazepam. The present modification of the EMIT d.a.u. method seems to be a good method for screening of drugs in forensic blood samples, except for amphetamine in postmortem samples. The method is simple and requires only 0.5 ml blood.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Forensic Toxicology, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gjerde
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Christophersen
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Skuterud
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klemetsen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mørland
mesh_terms: D000661:Amphetamine / Q000097:blood*; D002186:Cannabinoids / Q000097:blood*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003975:Diazepam / Q000097:blood*; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D009294:Narcotics / Q000097:blood*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
chemical_list: D002186:Cannabinoids; D009294:Narcotics; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D000661:Amphetamine; D003975:Diazepam