Download Drug Identification and Toxicology

Analytical Chemistry: Drug Identification and Toxicology
Illicit Drugs
1.
What does the DEA stand for and what do they do?
2.
Define a drug.
3.
How (by what criteria) are illicit drugs classified?
4.
Which organization determines whether a drug has legitimate medical use?
5.
What are some of the factors they have to take into consideration when determining a drug’s potential
for abuse?
6.
Give one fact and two examples for each:
a)
Schedule I:
b) Schedule II:
c)
Schedule III:
d) Schedule IV:
e)
Schedule V:
7.
Name the four major classes of illicit drugs.
8.
What effects does a stimulant have on the human body?
9.
Cocaine is a stimulant. How is cocaine derived?
10. What two household items are used to convert cocaine into crack?
11. Where does methamphetamine come from (how do they make meth)?
12. What effects does a depressant have on the human body?
13. Name four popular hallucinogens.
14. What is a narcotic?
15. How is heroine different from morphine (molecules, schedules, uses), and how are they similar?
Drug Homework
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Analytical Chemistry: Drug Identification and Toxicology
Type Of
Test
Urine
Blood
Breath
Hair
How Test Is Performed
Accuracy
Results
Invasive? Easily Tampered?
The person to be tested
provides a urine sample then
the provided sample is
evaluated by a presumptive
color test to see if there are
drugs in the system or not. Can
be done in a lab or at home.
This form of a drug test is
accurate to an extent. There are
many false positives that can
occur from common household
items, and one’s urine could be
diluted causing the test to come
out negative.
The results will show drug use
within approximately 1-7 days
depending on the type of drug
taken.
The only invasive part about
this test is that sometimes you
will have to urinate in front of
an authorized individual. This
test can also be tampered with
by using another individual’s
urine.
A small amount of blood will be
taken and then run through a
laboratory to be tested for
drugs: this test must be
performed in a hospital setting.
This test is very accurate for on
the spot testing of drugs if one
has overdosed and is in the
hospital. However, it is not a
very practical form of testing
outside of a medical setting.
This test can only be used to
test if that person is currently
under the influence of the drug
and it is circulating at that
moment through the
bloodstream.
This is a form of testing
commonly used by police
officers when they pull
someone over on the road; they
will use a breathalyzer and the
individual will blow into the
machine and the officer will be
given a reading.
A small clump of an individual’s
hair is taken from the root and
tested; can be performed in a
lab or can be performed at
home with a kit.
This test is semi accurate due to
there being many factors that
determine the reading, such as
environmental settings and the
software used for the reading
(may be cheap or not fully
accurate). It is easy to use.
These results show the
presence of the drug only while
it is circulating through your
system (in the blood) Once out
of blood will no longer show
usage.
This test would be the MOST
invasive of the testing because
it would require one to go to
the hospital to have their blood
drawn; this test would be very
hard to tamper due to it being
in a hospital setting.
This test is the least invasive of
all due to it just requiring the
individual to breathe onto a
machine; this also cannot be
tampered with due to the
breathing and analysis done
right on the spot.
This test is very accurate
because it takes the follicle of
the hair and its skin tag. Best
results achieved in a lab where
a technician can precisely clip
the hair into pieces, which can
show results over time (like the
pages of a book).
The results do not show
immediate drug use, it will
show drug use over the past 90
days.
This test is somewhat invasive.
It only requires the individual
to give a small sample of their
hair; this test is very difficult to
be tempered with unless you
use someone else’s hair. Some
tests can use body hair instead
of head hair.
Things to know from this chart or outside research:
 Is the test invasive? Describe how the test sample is collected from the subject.
 How does the test work? Describe how the analyst works with the sample.
 How expensive is the testing? No exact amount, but rank from least to most expensive.
 Is a skilled technician required to perform the test and to read the results?
 Is the test generally more reliable for short or long term drug usage? Explain.
 How reliable is the drug test? What variables might affect the results?
Drug Homework
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Analytical Chemistry: Drug Identification and Toxicology
Further Study on your own:
1. Many people take their pills first thing in the morning. If they eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice,
they may be inhibiting the metabolism of their drug. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of this.
Concomitant administration of a drug (taking the drug along with something else) should therefore be
avoided.
a. What types of drugs are affected by grapefruit or grapefruit juice?
b. Explain how the grapefruit or grapefruit juice inhibits the metabolism of the drug.
2. A patient walked into the doctor’s office to get her flu shot. After receiving the shot, the small pinprick
kept bleeding. The nurse asked the patient if she was taking aspirin. The patient replied that she was
taking a small dose everyday to help reduce the risk of heart attacks. Curious, the patient asked the
nurse, how he knew she was taking aspirin.
a. Describe your findings about aspirin and its relationship to bleeding.
Why did the patient bleed more than normally after receiving a flu vaccination?
b. Explain why someone about to have surgery is told to stop taking aspirin prior to the surgery.
c. Discuss how low doses of aspirin can help reduce the chance of a heart attack.
3.
The price of drugs in the past 10 years has continued to increase. To try to reduce the cost of drugs,
health insurance companies have looked to reducing a co-payment if the insured purchases a less
expensive brand of drug.
a. Identify the difference between a generic and non-generic drug in terms of effectiveness and cost.
b. Explain the difference between a preferred drug and a non-preferred drug.
Drug Homework
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Analytical Chemistry: Drug Identification and Toxicology
Drug Identification
1.
What are the differences among a controlled substance, an illicit drug, a prescription drug, and an OTC
drug?
2.
What is a presumptive test? When can it be useful? What are its limitations?
3.
A sample of light brown powder found in the kitchen of an alleged drug house gives a blue precipitate
with cobalt thiocyanate. What is it? Is there enough evidence to prosecute?
4.
What are the two phases (steps) in a forensic scientist’s analytical scheme (plan of action)?
5.
What is the difference between a screening test and a confirmation test?
6.
What is the difference between a qualitative evaluation and a quantitative evaluation?
7.
What are the types of chromatography?
8.
Why is chromatography particularly well suited to the needs of a drug analyst?
9.
In chromatography, the distribution of a gas between the liquid and gas phases is determined by which
of the following?
a. The density of the gas relative to the liquid.
b. The volume of the gas in the container.
c. The solubility of the gas in the liquid.
d. The mass of the gas relative to the liquid.
10. Name one distinct advantage of gas chromatography in the identification of drugs.
11. What is the main drawback of gas chromatography in the identification of drugs?
12. With what analytical device is a gas chromatograph often connected to analyze drug mixtures, and
why?
13. Define each of the following abbreviations:
a. PDR
c. OTC
e. THC
g. NSAID
i. FDA
k. DEA
Drug Homework
b.
d.
f.
h.
j.
l.
CNS
UV Spec
FTIR or IR Spec
GC-MS
TLC
Rf
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Analytical Chemistry: Drug Identification and Toxicology
Drug
Marijuana
LSD
Amphetamines
Cocaine
Heroin
Barbiturat es
Reagent
Duquenois -Levine (D -L)
Erlich/Van Urk (ERL)
Marquis (MARQ)
Cobalt thiocyanate (CO)
Marquis (MARQ)
Dille -Kopanyi (D -K)
Color
Blue -violet
Blue -violet
Red-orange --->brown
Blue flaky precipitate
Purple
Violet
14. (2 pts) A police officer stops a motorist who is driving erratically and notices a bag of white powder on
the front seat of the car that he suspects contains heroin. The officer brings the bag to you, a forensic
scientist in the local crime lab. Name one screening test that you might perform to determine the
presence of heroin. Assuming the powder tests positive for heroin, what test should you do next?
15. (2 pts) You have tested a sample of a white powder with cobalt thiocyanate reagent and obtained a blue
precipitate. You think you have _______________, but you ask the spectroscopy lab for a
confirmation. They provide the following spectrum. What is your sample? (Use Appendix D).
16.
(4 pts) You get a violet-blue color with
Marquis reagent on a sample submitted
to your lab. You ask the mass
spectroscopy lab to check it for you,
and they submit these mass spectra
(there were two components). What is
your sample? (Use Appendix E).
a)
Results of the Marquis test:
b) Results of the mass spec:
c)
What is it?
d) Explain your results.
Drug Homework
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Analytical Chemistry: Drug Identification and Toxicology
17. (5 pts) As the expert witness at a trial, you have been asked to explain to a jury (generally considered
to be, on the average, seventh- to ninth-grade level in science) the basis of GC-MS, and how ethyl
alcohol can be differentiated from propyl alcohol. The defendant is charged with second degree
murder of the victim, who died of poisoning. The two had been together the night of the death,
partying hard, and the defendant claims that his friend simply drank too much that night. The
prosecution claims that the defendant served propanol instead of ethanol.
a. Explain to the jury the difference between ethyl alcohol and propyl alcohol.
b.
Explain to the jury how the GC-MS works, and how it can be used in the lab to tell the two
liquids apart.
c.
How would the type of liquid identified by the GC-MS influence this case?
18. (3 pts) A police officer pulls a car over for a minor traffic violation. The officer thinks she smells
marijuana in the car. A search uncovers a plastic bag containing plantlike material stuffed under the
front seat. The occupants of the car insist it is “stuff used to make incense, like oregano and cloves”
and is strictly innocent. A sample has been submitted to the lab for analysis.
a. Estimate the amount of marijuana in this case.
b.
What would be the maximum sentence if the driver were convicted as a first offense? (Use
Appendix B)
19. (3 pts) At the international arrivals area of the Detroit Metro Airport, the random inspection of a
passenger’s suitcase reveals a film canister containing a white powder. The passenger indignantly says
it is Motrin (ibuprofen), powdered for quick dissolving as a headache remedy, and that he never travels
without it. Customs agents need a quick spot test because they don’t know whether to call the DEA or
let the man go. You want them to run a quick test, but they don’t have a full lab at the airport. What do
you advise them to do?
20. (3 pts) Say this man is apprehended with 50 grams of cocaine in the film canister. Upon further
inspection, ten more canisters are found in the man’s luggage.
a. Estimate the amount of cocaine in this case.
b.
What could be the sentence if he were convicted as a first offense? (Use Appendix C)
Drug Homework
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