Drug testing compendium

Synthetic cannabinoids, commonly found in ‘herbal incense’ brands were recently declared controlled substances by the US Drug Enforcement Agency. To assist the drug testing industry in detecting these substances, Agilent Technologies has produced a GC–MS compendium.

“These compounds had not been controlled until November of 2010, when health concerns prompted the DEA to evoke an emergency ban,” said Tom Gluodenis, the company’s forensic and toxicology business manager. “They present a number of analytical challenges. Formulations are rapidly evolving. When one is banned, it can quickly be replaced by a new one. They’re often sold in botanical matrixes as ‘herbal incense’ and other products, which presents additional challenges. We published this compendium to help labs get a handle on this dynamic situation.”

The compendium contains detailed procedures for sample preparation and GC–MS methods, plus a searchable mass-spectral library to test for 35 synthetic cannabinoids and their derivatives. The method and library were developed in collaboration with the Criminalistics Division of NMS Labs, an independent forensic laboratory certified by the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors.

To order a copy visit www.agilent.com/chem/cannabinoidcd

This story originally appeared in The Column. Click here to view that issue.