[Evaluation of the use of psychotropic drugs from urine samples from subjects attending for the first time a clinic specializing in opium addiction].
OBJECTIVE
Determine how well drug abusers requesting care accept urine sampling and the reliability of this method for evaluating drug use.


METHODS
Subjects attending a specialized drug abuse clinic for the first time were requested to provide a urine sample for semiquantitative analysis using an immunological technique to identify the following substances: barbiturates, benzodiazepines, opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, cannabis, and dextropropoxyphen.


RESULTS
All 98 subjects included in the study accepted the urine sample. More than 80% of the samples were positive for 1, 2 or 3 substances. The most frequent were, in decreasing order, opiates, cannabis, benzodiazepines and dextropropoxyphen. Among the opiate-positive subjects (70%), 80% were positive for 2 other substances, usually cannabis and benzodiazepines. Two-thirds of the cocaine-positive cases were observed among the most recently seen subjects. Among the 27 opiate-negative subjects, 16 stated they used buprenorphine.


CONCLUSIONS
Within the setting of this study, urine sampling appeared to be well accepted by drug abusers. Urinalysis gave an objective evaluation of drug use and can be useful on an individual level providing complementary information to the overall examination. Urine sampling can also provide indicators for studying the evolution of drug use practices in different populations, both in a clinical and non-clinical setting.
Bonnand
B
B
Groupe d'étude des toxicomanies, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2.
Auriacombe
M
M
Franques
P
P
Bertorelle
V
V
Afflelou
S
S
Daulouède
J P
JP
Combourieu
I
I
Tignol
J
J
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy / Q000652:urine; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy / Q000652:urine
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs