Self reported (il)licit drug use in Belgian drivers

Introduction: There are relatively few data on the prevalence of driving under the influence of drugs in the general population. Aim: To determine the number of drivers who took drugs and medicines by using questionnaires, and comparing to the results of toxicological analysis. Method : 2957 respondents driving a personal car or van completed a questionnaire during roadside surveys to report their use of drugs and medicines during the last two weeks and indicate the time of last intake. The drug classes were combined to benzodiazepines and Z-drugs, antidepressants, codeine, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines. Drugs were analysed in oral fluid by UPLC-MS/MS. Frequencies in the time categories were calculated and compared with toxicological results. Results : Drug class Self-report/ toxicology Use 24h Unknown Alcohol 1614/196 138/95 180/56 182/15 370/9 713/14 31/7 Antidepressants 110/41 6/3 14/5 50/19 24/8 8/0 8/6 Benzodiazepines and Z-drugs 98/40 4/2 10/9 33/14 30/9 12/4 9/2 Cannabis 79/32 5/4 3/1 10/8 7/3 46/14 8/2 Codeine 60/6 4/2 7/3 9/0 6/0 25/0 9/1 Cocaine 7/5 2/2 0 0 0 4/2 1/1 Amphetamines 5/2 0 0 0 0 3/1 2/1 Heroin 2/1 1/1 0 0 0 1/0 0 Conclusions : Alcohol, antidepressants, cannabis, benzodiazepines and codeine were most commonly used. Most drugs were last used >4h or more before driving. Self-report yielded more positives than toxicological analysis. The percentages of positives were higher among the subjects who reported more recent drug consumption. Disclaimer: This abstract has been produced under the project “Driving Under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicines” (DRUID) financed by the European Community within the framework of the EU 6th Framework Program. This abstract reflects only the author's view. The European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein

Analytical evaluation of five oral fluid drug testing devices

Introduction: The correlation with blood drug presence and the easiness of sample collection make oral fluid an ideal matrix for roadside drug tests targeting impaired drivers. Aim: To evaluate the reliability of five oral fluid testing devices: Varian OraLab®6, Dräger DrugTest® 5000, Cozart® DDS 806, Mavand RapidSTAT® and Innovacon OrAlert. Method: More than 760 samples were collected from volunteers either at drug addiction treatment centres or during roadside sessions. Target drug classes were amphetamines, cannabinoids, cocaine and opiates for all devices. Dräger DrugTest® 5000 (137 samples tested), Cozart® DDS 806 (n=138) and Mavand Rapid STAT® (n=133) could also detect the presence of benzodiazepines, while phencyclidine could be detected using Varian OraLab® 6 (n=249) and Innovacon OrAlert (n=110). Samples were tested on-site with one of the selected devices. Volunteers provided an additional oral fluid sample for confirmation analysis by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and prevalence were calculated applying Belgian legal confirmation cut-offs. Results : All devices showed good specificity for all drug classes. Sensitivity and accuracy were very variable among devices and drug classes. Overall, when applying Belgian law cut-offs, sensitivity was always unsatisfactory for cocaine (highest sensitivity 50%), moderate or very low for cannabis and amphetamines (23-80% and 17-75% respectively). Conclusions : Considering that cannabis, followed by amphetamines, is the most prevalent drug among impaired drivers in Belgium, only one device was sensitive enough to be used during roadside police controls. This abstract has been produced under the project “Driving Under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicines” (DRUID) financed by the European Community within the framework of the EU 6th Framework Program. This abstract reflects only the author's view. The European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therei

Analytical evaluation of four on-site oral fluid drug testing devices

The use of oral fluid (OF) as an alternative matrix for the detection of drugs of abuse has increased over the last decade, leading to the need for a rapid, simple, and reliable on-site OF testing device. Four on-site OF drug testing devices (Dräger DrugTest 5000, Cozart DDS, Mavand Rapid STAT, and Innovacon OrAlert) were evaluated on 408 volunteers at drug treatment centers. UPLC-MS-MS results were used as reference to determine sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for each device, applying Belgian legal confirmation cutoffs for benzoylecgonine, cocaine, and THC (10 ng/mL); morphine and 6-acetylmorphine (5 ng/mL); and amphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (25 ng/mL). Sensitivity for cocaine was 50%, 50%, 27%, and 11% for DrugTest, OrAlert, Rapid STAT, and DDS 806, respectively. For opiates, sensitivities were 84%, 73%, 77%, and 65%, respectively. For THC, the sensitivities were 81%, 23%, 43%, and 28%, respectively. For amphetamines, the sensitivities were 75%, 33%, 17%, and 67%, respectively. Specificity was >88% for opiates and THC, > 90% for amphetamines, and > 97% for cocaine. All tests showed good specificity. DrugTest had the highest sensitivity, although it was still low for some analytes

Prevalence of alcohol, illicit drugs and psychoactive medicines in killed drivers in four European countries

Our objective was to determine the presence of psychoactive substances in blood of drivers killed in road crashes in four European countries. Data from 1118 drivers of car and vans, killed between 2006 and 2009, were collected in Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. The prevalence of any psychoactive substance ranged between 31 and 48%. Alcohol (>= 0.1 g/L) was the most common finding, 87% had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC)>=.5 g/L. Benzodiazepines (1.8-13.3%) and amphetamines (0-7.4%) were the most prevalent psychoactive medicines and illicit drugs, respectively. Alcohol-drug and drug-drug combinations were rather prevalent. Differences in alcohol/drug findings seemed to reflect differences in use in the countries. More research should be done to develop preventive strategies to reduce the number of alcohol- and drug-related traffic accidents targeting at-risk groups, such as drivers with very high BACs and novice drivers

Detectie van sporen van de productie van synthetisch drugs in oppervlaktewater

Wereldwijd behoren amfetamine, methamfetamine en ecstasy tot de meest gebruikte illegale drugs na cannabis en cocaïne. Hun gebruik is drastisch gestegen in de jaren 90 maar afgelopen jaren werd een lagere groei vastgesteld. Naast de productie en consumptie van deze synthetische drugs, krijgt de politie ook te maken met het illegaal lozen van afval afkomstig uit het productieproces van deze drugs. Het doel van voorliggend onderzoek was om aan de hand van het detecteren van afvalstoffen in het afvalwater, gevormd in de productie van drugs, een clandestien laboratorium in de directe omgeving van het lozingspunt terug te vinde