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Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
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Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
69 articles
Newest firstThe rapid emergence of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) poses challenges for drug testing, particularly when analyzing urine samples due to the rapid metabolization of the parent compounds. In early 2023, two novel SCRAs were reported to the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA): ADMB-3TMS-PrINACA and Cumyl-3TMS-PrINACA, which are both indazole SCRAs featuring a trimethylsilyl propyl moiety connected t…
Open article record in new tab ↗INTRODUCTION: Preoperative substance use is increasingly observed among candidates for metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS), yet its perioperative and 1-year effects remain unclear in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We assessed whether routine preoperative urine toxicology screening tests (TSTs) predict anesthetic requirements, recovery, early complications, and 1-year weight loss. METHODS: Prospective s…
New psychoactive substances (NPS), especially synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRA), are increasingly smuggled into prisons via infused mail. Consumption of those substances by inmates in prisons is associated with increased aggression, violence, and organized crime. Onsite detection of infused mail often is challenging. Because the infused papers do not show any visible stains or olfactory changes, physi…
Semi-synthetic cannabinoids are a class of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) with structural similarities to the main psychoactive phytocannabinoid Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) found in Cannabis sativa L. The first semi-synthetic cannabinoids, which were used as legal substitutes for marijuana, were Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC) and hexahydrocannabinol (HHC). Δ8-THC emerged around 2019 on the recreational…
Purpose A powder found at a fatality scene, labeled as the synthetic cathinone 3',4'-methylenedioxy-α-pyrrolidinohexiophenone (MDPHP) and most likely smoked using a crack pipe, was analyzed. The powder was identified as very potent synthetic cannabinoid ADB-BUTINACA/ADB-BINACA with a high purity (> 98%). This case highlights the risks associated with mislabeled novel psychoactive substances (NPS), particularly tho…
Cannabinoid use and misuse has been rising since 2011, and the development of new cannabinoid derivatives, partially due to the passage of the Farm Bill in 2018, and more relaxed legislation, has complicated testing for this drug class. The impact on child welfare in homes with cannabis substance use remains a concern, so detection of environmental exposure to cannabinoids is hugely beneficial. This article report…
Open article record in new tab ↗Importance The primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) induces intoxication and functional impairment, raising safety concerns in driving. The traditional impairment detection method, behavioral field sobriety tests (FSTs), are subject to bias. Objective To determine whether resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can detect THC-related impairment with greater a…
ObjectiveIn this study, we evaluated the concordance between urine drug screening (UDS) and self-reported use in a pragmatic randomized clinical trial.MethodsOur data was drawn from OPTIMA, a 24-week pragmatic multicentric open-label randomized-controlled trial comparing flexible take-home dosing of buprenorphine/naloxone to the methadone standard model of care for treating prescription-type opioid use disorder. A…
Introduction Adolescent substance use and substance use disorders are significant public health issues. Our goal was to evaluate the association between adolescent substance use, detected via blood alcohol levels and urine drug screens, and trauma-related outcomes at a Level I pediatric trauma center. Most of the literature is focused on adult trauma patients with limited data in the pediatrics. Methods In this re…
Recently developed dried blood analysis methods for cannabinoid quantitation utilize small blood volumes, making them microsampling-compatible, but are limited by hematocrit-related bias for dried blood spots (DBSs) and higher consumable costs for volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS®). To address these issues, we developed a highly sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method ca…
Assessment of drugs of abuse in biological fluids requires thorough knowledge of stability of the drugs under various conditions, including sample collection, handling, transportation, and analysis, to ensure accurate interpretation of results. This systematic review provides an overview of the literature on the pre-analytical stability of selected clinically relevant drugs of abuse in urine. A systematic search o…
Open article record in new tab ↗Hemp products [cannabis with ≤0.3% Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC)] are federally legal, but few controlled experiments have explored drug test results, pharmacokinetics, or pharmacodynamics. Healthy adults (n = 60) self-administered 1.5 mL medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil containing 100 mg cannabidiol (CBD) and either 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 2.8, or 3.7 mg Δ9-THC (n = 10 per group). The study included an 8-hour acute d…
BACKGROUND: Hemp-derived products, especially CBD (cannabidiol) oil and hemp oil, have shown a notable increase of use in recent years. CBD oil is a compound derived from the cannabis plant, whilst hemp oil is a product derived from hemp seeds. Trans-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in cannabis is responsible for the psychoactive effect, whereas CBD, having the same molecular weight, is a non-psychoactive compound wi…
Open article record in new tab ↗Introduction Driving under the influence of drugs is a major risk factor for road traffic collisions. While increasing harms are observed in relation to polydrug use, evidence is needed about this issue in the context of road safety. We examined polydrug use patterns in drivers providing samples for toxicological analysis in Ireland between 2019 and 2020. Methods A cross-sectional study using LC-MS toxicology resu…
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or "ecstasy," is a commonly used drug worldwide, including in New Zealand, where 4.8% of the population aged 15 years or over reported using it in a 2023/2024 survey. This study provides additional insights on MDMA prevalence data in New Zealand by reporting toxicology data from Coronial and driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) cases positive for MDMA between 2010 an…
Open article record in new tab ↗This letter addresses the article by Deeb et al. describing the analysis of cannabinoids in exhaled breath. While the study represents a technical advancement in breath-based detection, several interpretive and analytical limitations warrant clarification. The manuscript discusses potential impairment-related applications despite the absence of direct measures of impairment. Existing literature, including controll…
Open article record in new tab ↗Synthetic cannabinoids （SCs） have become the most diverse and widely abused class of new psychoactive substances in the world. Blood and urine are classic sample matrices for in vivo toxin analysis， but some SCs have high lipophilicity， and the concentration of parent drugs in urine is extremely low， making them difficult to detect. Metabolites need to be investigated， and SCs with similar structures can produce t…
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are health-hazardous through unpredictable toxicity and effects and largely unknown epidemiology, motivating studies of the latter. Up to 138 NPS were retrospectively identified using liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry data from all 34 183 oral fluid drug samples collected in one Swedish health care region 2019-2020 representing 9468 psychiatric and addiction…
It is of interest to investigate trends in AAS usage profile. Here we aimed to retrospectively study the prevalence of AAS-positive samples based on 21,172 consecutive analyses from routine AAS testing 2014-2023. Moreover, 310 urine samples from 2022 to 2023 were reanalyzed for a broader AAS panel as well as for the presence of narcotics. Between 2014 and 2023, the frequency of reported AAS-positive samples varied…
The increase of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in breath after cannabis inhalation has been well-documented in the forensic field, but the trends after ingestion of cannabis-infused edibles have not yet been investigated. In this study, participants ingested a cannabis-infused edible and provided breath samples before and at three timepoints after ingestion. Participants were assigned to one of two breath sampling…
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