Phenylalkylamine abuse among opiate addicts attending a methadone treatment programme in the Republic of Ireland.
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.
Kavanagh
P.
P
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Dunne
J.
J
Feely
J.
J
Maguire
R.
R
Corrigan
D.
D
Keating
J. J.
JJ
Meegan
M. J.
MJ
Clancy
J. M.
JM
Burdett
J.
J