Paola Melai

Drugs and psychoactive substances in the Tiber River

Wastewater analysis is a direct and objective method used to measure human consumption of illicit drugs. In the last few years these have become a new class of environmental contaminants. The aim of our study was the identification of drugs in Tiber River waters. We collected 20 water samples from May to June 2012, at six points of the river: at the source, near Perugia, near Rome and at the mouth. Samples were analysed using gas chromatography with a mass detector. Basic analytes were extracted using the method of Varian Certify. For acidic analytes we proceed to direct extraction using organic solvents. The most detected drug was ecstasy. We also identified traces of methadone, morphine, heroine, methylamphetamine and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The highest concentration of cocaine was found near Perugia with a peak in the weekend (4744 ng/ml). Psychoactive substances had constant concentrations in the week. Ecstasy (MDMA) was the most detected drug. The most interesting finding was the increased concentration of cocaine and heroin in waters near Perugia showing the alarming phenomenon of weekend use of these substances.

A 10 year post-mortem analysis of keratin matrix in Perugia (Italy): focus on cocaine involvement in several types of death

Abstract The use of keratin matrix, in detecting drug consumption, offers compelling advantages compared to other conventional biological matrices used for these types of investigation, and provides important information to surveys which are characterised by a general underestimation, especially in Italy. In our study we collected and analysed 424 hair samples from corpses autopsied in Perugia from January 2001 to December 2011 in order to detect traces of drugs and especially of cocaine, and evaluate their involvement in several types of death. Hair samples were analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in the Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology of the Department of Legal Medicine of the University of Perugia: 232 samples derived from cases of overdose deaths; 192 were connected to different causes of death. The average concentration of cocaine in the keratin matrix samples was of 3.74 ng/mg in people who died from overdose, 3.09 ng/mg in people who died from other causes. In 232 cases of overdose deaths, 135 were positive for cocaine (accounting for 58.18% of total); in 192 deaths from other causes, 39 were positive for cocaine (accounting for 20.31% of the total). Our study demonstrated the crucial role of cocaine in overdose deaths and in other deaths, as is well known in other research.

Hair testing for cocaine in living men: an epidemiological study on hair samples collected for various medico-legal purposes

Abstract The collection and analysis of hair samples offers higher chances of identifying people addicted to drugs than urine samples. In our study we propose hair analysis as a useful epidemiological indicator to identify the extent of cocaine use in different medico-legal situations: currently the epidemiological trends of substance abuse are estimated indirectly, mainly through large-scale surveys or through medical and crime statistics that may be too generic. We conducted a cross-sectional study, analysing hair samples, collected for various medico-legal purposes, from living men belonging to different categories, in order to complete a previous study conducted in 2016. Of 104 samples collected for different purposes, 55 were positive for drugs (52.88% of total) and, in this group, positivity for cocaine was found in 28 cases (26.92% of total), with a mean concentration of 4.58 ng/mg of hair, and a mean concentration of 0.75 ng/mg of hair of its major metabolite (benzoylecgonine). This datum is in line with the Italian Superior Health Institute reports, which declared a reduction in the use of cannabis and benzodiazepines, but a notable increase in cocaine use. Despite its limitations, this study adds further information to the previous one conducted in the same context, and furnishes an interesting picture of the phenomenon of cocaine addiction in Italy.