[Relevance of toxicological identification of narcotics in hair for maintenance therapy of opiate addicts].

The study was done in 57 psychoactive drug addicts (18 females and 39 males) who entered a methadone maintenance program in Szczecin. The age of participants ranged from 21 to 49 years (mean 32.14 years) and the mean duration of drug abuse as determined during history-taking was 11.6 years. Some of the patients became addicted at the age of just 11 years. The objectives of this work were: a) to apply segmental analysis of hair for studying psychoactive agents and their derivatives in drug abusers during the acute intoxication phase and maintenance therapy; b) to determine if narcotics found in hair matched with findings during history-taking; c) to check the relevance of toxicological tests for psychoactive drug content in hair for monitoring abstinence in maintenance programs. The material consisted of hair sampled from 57 patients who were visited the Outpatient Department for Drug Abusers of the Regional Mental Care Center in Szczecin (Poland). Opioids (morphine, codeine, 6-mono-acetyl-morphine, methadone) were determined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS-ITD) and a Varian 3400 gas chromatography (USA) coupled to a mass spectrometer (Magnum ionic trapping system, Finnigan Mat, USA). Amphetamines (EP, MK, MA, AMP, MDA, MDMA, MDEA) were analyzed with a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) system (LC/MS HP-1100, Hewlett-Packard, USA), equipped with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) chamber and dedicated software. Statistical analysis of the results was done. The following conclusions were drawn: toxicological examination of narcotic content in hair is a useful method for studying the history of drug addiction during the period of time equivalent, to the length of hair. Psychoactive substances detected in hair were in most cases consistent with the history of drug abuse. Analysis of psychoactive substances in hair may be applied for identification of addicting drugs and for abstinence control in therapeutic and rehabilitation programs.