Passive Inhalation of Cocaine

Abstract

Six healthy male volunteers were exposed to the vapor of 100 and 200 mg freebase cocaine heated to a temperature of 200 degrees C in an unventilated room (12,600-L volume) for a period of 1 h. No pharmacological effects were detected as a result of the exposure. Blood specimens collected immediately following exposure were negative for cocaine and metabolites. Urine specimens analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry contained peak concentrations of benzoylecgonine that ranged from 22 to 123 ng/mL. The peak excretion time for benzoylecgonine following passive exposure was approximately 5 h. The amount of cocaine inhaled by the subjects during passive exposure was estimated from room air measurements of cocaine to be approximately 0.25 mg. The total amount of cocaine (cocaine plus metabolites) excreted in urine by the six subjects ranged from 0.04 to 0.21 mg. For comparison, the six subjects also received an intravenous injection of 1 mg cocaine hydrochloride. Four of six subjects screened positive (300-ng/mL cutoff concentration) following the injection, indicating that the minimum amount of cocaine in these subjects necessary to produce positive results was approximately 1 mg. A second passive inhalation study was undertaken in which specimens were collected from research staff who assisted in a series of experimental studies with "crack" (freebase cocaine) smokers. The research staff remained in close vicinity while the crack smokers smoked three doses of freebase cocaine (12.5, 25, and 50 mg) over a period of 4 h. As a result, staff members were passively exposed to sidestream smoke from crack pipes and to breath exhalation from the crack smokers. Urine specimens from the staff members contained a maximum of 6 ng/mL benzoylecgonine. Only traces (less than 1 ng/mL) of cocaine were detected in any specimen. Overall, these studies demonstrated that individuals exposed to cocaine smoke under naturalistic or artificial conditions absorbed small amounts of cocaine that were insufficient to produce positive urine specimens at standard Department of Health and Human Services cutoffs. However, passive exposure conditions that would result in absorption of cocaine in amounts exceeding 1 mg could result in the production of cocaine-positive urine specimens.

Monitoring the crack epidemic through urine testing: establishment of routine detection methods

“…Pharmacologically, crack produces more rapid behavioral response, has higher abuse liability, induces more intense psychotropic effects, but provides a ª highº of shorter duration than powder cocaine. 1,2 As a result, crack has generated markets in which users m ake multiple purchases per day from m ultiple sources, use cash and exchange of goods and services (such as sex) to obtain the drug, use crime to generate the cash, and often execute transactions in public venues. 2± 5 Broadly, crack has been implicated for its links to structural or market-related crime, economic compulsive crime, and pharm acologically induced crime.…”

“…More generally, crack m ay be an important influence on behavioral and psychological patterns because of the rapid, intense high of short duration that it supplies. 1 Despite the evident consequences of crack use, little validated empirical evidence exists about the relative prevalence of crack and powder cocaine use. All four major national drug information systems that track cocaine useÐ the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA, which is based on a representative sample of the population aged 12 and older, including people living in households and in some group quarters such as dormitories and homeless shelters), M onitoring the Future (M TF, which focuses on juveniles), the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAW N, which tracks medical and emergency room mentions associated with drugs) and the Arrestee Drug Abuse M onitoring system (ADAM , which monitors drug use among arrested suspects) Ð rely on self-report to differentiate crack and powder cocaine.…”

Determination of cocaine, its metabolites, pyrolysis products, and ethanol adducts in postmortem fluids and tissues using Zymark® automated solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry1

“…These topics are, however, extensively covered elsewhere [2,11,45]. As previously stated, deuterated analogs of COC, BE, CE and EME were used as internal standards in this study.…”

Drug Testing for Newborn Exposure to Illicit Substances in Pregnancy: Pitfalls and Pearls

“…Passive exposure to heavy amounts of second-hand marijuana or crack cocaine smoke can result in a positive drug test in an exposed adult, but low levels of second-hand smoke exposure do not typically result in positive drug tests [56, 57]. If a mother is in an environment with others using drugs to the point that it is causing the mother and her newborn to test positive from passive exposure, the same concerns about home stability and cooccurring psychosocial risk factors should be communicated to personnel assessing the mother's situation since the newborn would be exposed to the same environment at discharge.…”