title: Phenylalkylamine abuse among opiate addicts attending a methadone treatment programme in the Republic of Ireland.
abstract: Since the early 1990s ring-substituted derivatives of amphetamine have been abused widely in the Republic of Ireland. The main ring-substituted amphetamines being abused include methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methylenedioxyethamphetamine (MDEA). A newer illicit synthetic analogue, which has been seized to a lesser extent by Irish police, is N-methyl-1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-butanamine (MBDB). The work presented here involved the determination of the type of ring-substituted amphetamines being abused by a group of recovering opiate abusers participating in a methadone maintenance programme in a Dublin Drug Rehabilitation Centre. Urine samples which tested positive for amphetamines and ring-substituted amphetamines via EMIT immunoassay were subjected to further analysis using GC-MS with MBTFA flash derivatization. It was found that the methylenedioxypropanamines were being abused, as was amphetamine itself. However, no abuse of methylenedioxybutanamines or thioamphetamines was observed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: P.
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
authors.forename: J.
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dunne
authors.forename: J.
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feely
authors.forename: R.
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maguire
authors.forename: D.
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.forename: J. J.
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Keating
authors.forename: M. J.
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Meegan
authors.forename: J. M.
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Clancy
authors.forename: J.
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burdett