The use of oral fluid and sweat wipes for the detection of drugs of abuse in drivers.
Blood, urine, oral fluid (by spitting or with a Salivette), and sweat samples (by wiping the forehead with a fleece moistened with isopropanol) were obtained from 180 drivers who failed the field sobriety tests at police roadblocks. With quantitative GC-MS, the positive predictive value of oral fluid was 98, 92, and 90% for amphetamines, cocaine, and cannabis respectively. The prevalence of opiate positives was low. The proposed SAMHSA cut-off values for oral fluid testing at the workplace, proved their usefulness in this study. The positive predictive value of sweat wipe analysis with GC-MS was over 90% for cocaine and amphetamines and 80% for cannabis. The accuracy of Drugwipe was assessed by comparing the electronic read-out values obtained on-site after wiping the tongue and the forehead, with the corresponding GC-MS results in plasma, oral fluid, and sweat. The accuracy was always less than 90% except for the amphetamine-group in sweat.
Samyn
Nele
N
National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology, Brussels, Belgium. nele.samyn@just.fgov.be
De Boeck
Gert
G
Verstraete
Alain G
AG
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000032:analysis; D001334:Automobile Driving; D002186:Cannabinoids / Q000032:analysis; D003042:Cocaine / Q000032:analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D009294:Narcotics / Q000032:analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D013542:Sweat / Q000737:chemistry*
D002186:Cannabinoids; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D009294:Narcotics; D000661:Amphetamine; D003042:Cocaine