Morphine and 6-Monoacetylmorphine in Hair of Heroin Users: Use of Invalid Extraction Procedures Generates Erroneous Conclusions

• Published in: Journal of analytical toxicology 2005-01, Vol.29 (1), p.76-77
• Main Authors: Schaffer, Michael, Hill, Virginia, Cairns, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Diagnostic Errors; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; Hair - chemistry; Hair - metabolism; Heroin Dependence - diagnosis; Heroin Dependence - metabolism; Humans; Morphine - analysis; Morphine - metabolism; Morphine Derivatives - analysis; Morphine Derivatives - metabolism; Specimen Handling - methods; Substance Abuse Detection - methods
• ISSN: 0146-4760; 1945-2403
• DOI: 10.1093/jat/29.1.76

A paper in the October 2003 issue of the Journal, Opiate Recidivism in a Drug-Treatment Program: Comparison of Hair and Urine Data, by B.K. Charles et al. (1) concludes the following: 1. hair results of heroin use disagreed with the urine data in most cases; 2. hair was a poor matrix for routine use in recidivism monitoring; and 3. urine appeared to be a more sensitive indicator of changes in the pattern of drug use during the course of clinical treatment. The conclusions of the authors are unwarranted in light of serious flaws in their procedures. First, as stated in the paper, recoveries of morphine from fortified or spiked drug-free hair samples were very low, between 32% and 38%. Further, in the more challenging case of hair containing opiates because of use, the authors did not attempt to validate the efficiency or completeness of recovery of morphine from the matrix of the hair with their method (overnight shaking in acetonitrile at room temperature). Additionally, because they did not wash the hair samples before analysis, they could not distinguish between drug on the surface of the hair and that deposited by drug us.