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Drug misuse inside prisons:
heroin overtakes cannabis, buprenorphine
rises to third most abused drug
The
Ministry of Justice released data from the results of a study which
indicates that heroin is becoming the most abused drug in prison over
cannabis. In addition, buprenorphine a fairly recent drug used in the
treatment of heroin but which also has become a drug of abuse, has risen
to become the third most misused drug inside prison. TrichoTech has
been able to detect buprenorphine in hair for a number of years, and
the test is validated to ISO 17025 standards.
Journal article published
Forensic Science International, a leading peer-reviewed
journal, has published another article by TrichoTech scientists in its
21st March 2008 edition:
Differentiation between drug use
and environmental contamination when testing drugs for hair
by Dr Lolita Tsanaclis and John FC Wicks
examines the methods developed by TrichoTech to manage the possibility
of external contamination affecting a hair test result. This brings
the number of published articles in peer reviewed journals and scientific
presentations to over 12 in as many months for TrichoTech staff.
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN has conferred her Award in 2008 to TrichoTech in
recognition of its outstanding achievements in Innovation. The Cardiff
based facility is one of Concateno's
laboratory centres of excellence.
The Queen's Awards for Enterprise are the UK's most prestigious awards
for business performance. This year 41 companies received the Award
for Innovation. “Apart from raising the profile of our
company, we are particularly delighted that our staff's commitment and
contribution to this important work is recognised” said TrichoTech's
General Manager, Rachel Woods when she heard of the Award.
“Every test we carry out has enormous significance for the donor,
and I am very proud of our team's dedication not only to broadening the
scope of illicit drugs that we can detect but also at ensuring the highest
standards of analysis are met.”
TrichoTech tests a lock of hair to provide a long-term window of detection
that can profile drug misuse over months in comparison to the days or
hours that other biological samples such as urine and saliva provide.
Each hair follicle has its own blood supply, so when drugs are ingested
and enter the bloodstream traces of them end up in the hair core. Hair
grows at about a centimetre a month, so testing a three centimetre hair
sample profiles drug use over approximately three months.
In 2004 the Cardiff based laboratory uniquely gained accreditation for
testing four different biological sample types for drug misuse - hair,
saliva, urine and blood. Throughout the last four years they have extended
their range of drug detection and improved their limits of detection.
Most recently, in March
2008, TrichoTech gained a double global first by gaining accreditation for two of its tests to the international
standard known as ISO 17025:
Gammahydroxybutrate (GHB) - one of a number of drugs
cited in drug-assisted assaults, often referred to as 'date rape', and
EthylGlucuronide (EtG) - a metabolite created when alcohol
is consumed.
“As many drug-assisted assaults are not reported until it is too
late to conduct a test on a urine or blood sample, the ability to go back
a few months testing a lock of hair could prove invaluable.” explained
Woods. “With alcohol, current blood tests provide either a snapshot
view of liver damage or a two week profile of alcohol use. An elevated
EtG result in hair will indicate a potential alcohol concern over a longer
period of about a month. Combining these alcohol tests help add to the
picture that local authorities and children's guardians need to make critical
decisions on children's safety.”