Bade Richard, Stockham Peter, Painter Ben, Celma Alberto, Bijlsma Lubertus, Hernandez Felix, White Jason M, Gerber Cobus
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, 5001, Australia.
Forensic Science SA, GPO Box 2790, Adelaide, 5001, Australia.
Drug Test Anal. 2019 Feb;11(2):250-256. doi: 10.1002/dta.2484. Epub 2018 Sep 12.
New psychoactive substances (NPS) have increased in use and popularity worldwide. Wastewater analysis has been successfully applied to evaluate illicit drugs use within a population. However, for NPS, such an approach may be limited due to low doses of NPS combined with their ever-changing composition and usage. The dynamic nature of the NPS market means use may be opportunistic, infrequent, and with few users. Hence, the use of complementary information sources is recommended to improve the knowledge on NPS consumption. The aim of this study was to investigate the changing landscape of NPS use on a community scale by combining wastewater analysis and forensic toxicology. Forensic analysis provided specific information on NPS prevalence in post-mortem blood samples in Adelaide, South Australia over five years, while wastewater analysis showed community use over the same period. A qualitative liquid chromatography--high resolution mass spectrometry method was initially used to screen the wastewater samples. A total of 24 NPS were found: 6 in wastewater only, 13 in forensic post-mortem toxicology samples only, and 5 in both. As these results showed the presence of NPS, a targeted method was subsequently employed to quantify levels of these NPS in wastewater. Temporal trends were found in wastewater with distinct tendencies for synthetic cathinones visible over the period studied.
新型精神活性物质（NPS）在全球范围内的使用和流行程度都有所增加。废水分析已成功应用于评估人群中的非法药物使用情况。然而，对于NPS而言，由于其剂量较低且成分和用途不断变化，这种方法可能存在局限性。NPS市场的动态性质意味着其使用可能具有机会性、不频繁且使用者较少。因此，建议使用补充信息来源来增进对NPS消费情况的了解。本研究的目的是通过结合废水分析和法医毒理学，在社区层面调查NPS使用情况的变化态势。法医分析提供了南澳大利亚阿德莱德五年间尸检血液样本中NPS流行情况的具体信息，而废水分析则显示了同一时期社区中的使用情况。最初使用一种定性液相色谱 - 高分辨率质谱方法来筛查废水样本。共发现24种NPS：仅在废水中发现6种，仅在法医尸检毒理学样本中发现13种，在两者中均发现5种。由于这些结果表明存在NPS，随后采用了一种靶向方法来定量废水中这些NPS的含量。在废水中发现了时间趋势，在所研究的时间段内可见合成卡西酮有明显的变化趋势。
