The Dangerous Pattern of Concurrent Use of Alcohol and Cocaine Among Drunk-Drivers of Northeast Italy

Snenghi, Rossella; Pelletti, Guido; Frigo, Anna Chiara; Forza, Giovanni; Nalesso, Alessandro; Montisci, Massimo; Favretto, Donata

doi:10.1093/alcalc/agy050

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The results of this study show that 12.5% of the positive cases reported polydrug use. This proportion is higher than those reported in the literature with a similar population [2,20]. The difference could be due to different factors: differences in the substances analyzed, different countries or different time periods analyzed.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

“…The co-use of several substances by an individual over a large period of time could change for different reasons: as a consequence of change in price, availability, legal disposition, the use of separate drugs in different settings or contexts, or reflecting regular multi-substances use associated with drug dependence [1,2]. These factors imply that polydrug use is a complex phenomenon, making it difficult to estimate the real entity and its change over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many studies have focused on simultaneous drug use (same time or temporal proximity), the concurrent or sequential patterns of polydrug assumption (30 days or few months) in general population are less reported [7,19]. Furthermore, the entity of concurrent polydrug use on driving behavior has been insufficiently analyzed [1,2]. This paper presents the results of hair analysis of mono and concurrent polydrug use of drivers carried out by the laboratory of the University of Macerata, from people who had had their licenses suspended for driving because resulted positive to illicit drug use over the period 2010-2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The database of our laboratory, allows us to analyze the change of the phenomenon over the years, evidencing the new trends and the time change in drug use [12]. Polydrug use is considered to be a particularly highly dangerous risk factor for driving people [20,21], but most studies are related to polydrug use in which one of the substances involved is alcohol [1,2] . Less known in the literature is the relevance of concurrent polydrug use on driving behavior when alcohol is not involved [1,20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hair Analysis to Evaluate Polydrug Use

et al. 2021

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Polydrug use is a frequent pattern of consumption in Europe. This behavior has mainly been analyzed within restricted groups; more rarely in large populations. Current polydrug use is less studied than simultaneous use. This study focused on the concurrent assumption of polydrug among drivers using hair matrix. Hair matrix, for its biological characteristics, allows to identify illicit drug use more often than other matrices, i.e., urine, and it provides information on the long-term use of them. Hair samples of subjects positive for opiates, cocaine and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) collected by the forensic toxicology laboratory of the University of Macerata in the period 2010–2020, were analyzed using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. Our results evidenced that a significant part of the examined population (12.15%) used polydrug. A strong predominance of males over females was evident. Polydrug users were more frequently young people. The abuse of two substances was predominant. Cocaine and Δ9-THC was the most common combination, followed by cocaine and morphine, and morphine and Δ9-THC. The timeframe of polydrug use was also analyzed. Our study shows that polydrug use is a very frequent behavior, and that hair analysis may be a powerful tool to obtain objective biological information of this complex phenomenon.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hair Analysis to Evaluate Polydrug Use

et al. 2021

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“…The total number of victims of fatal crashes has significantly decreased in the past years in Western countries thanks to efficient prevention. Yet, the use of medicinal or illicit drug and/or alcohol is an increasing phenomenon in Europe (Snenghi et al, 2018;Pelletti et al, 2019), and the percentage of fatal crashes due to the driver's impairment remain constant (between 17 and 22% from 1995 to 2017) in Switzerland [Office Fédéral de la Statistique (OFS), 2018].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Driving Under the Influence of Drugs: A Single Parallel Monitoring-Based Quantification Approach on Whole Blood

et al. 2020

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Driving under the influence of psychoactive substances is a major cause of motor vehicle crashes. The identification and quantification of substances most frequently involved in impaired-driving cases in a single analytic procedure could be an important asset in forensic toxicology. In this study, a highly sensitive and selective liquid chromatography (LC) approach hyphenated with Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was developed for the quantification of the main drugs present in the context of driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) using 100 µL of whole blood. This procedure involves a simple sample preparation and benefit from the selectivity brought by parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) allowing to solve most DUID cases using a single multi-analyte injection. The method was fully validated for the quantification of the major classes of psychoactive substances associated with impaired-driving (cannabinoids, cocaine and its metabolites, amphetamines, opiates and opioids, and the major benzodiazepines and z-drugs). The validation guidelines set by the "Société Française des Sciences et des Techniques Pharmaceutiques" (SFSTP) were respected for 22 psychoactive substances using 15 internal standards. Trueness was measured to be between 95.3 and 107.6% for all the tested concentrations. Precision represented by repeatability and intermediate precision was lower than 12% while recovery (RE) and matrix effect (ME) ranged from 49 to 105% and from −51 to 3%, respectively. The validated procedure provides an efficient approach for the simultaneous and simple quantification of the major drugs associated with impaired driving benefiting from the selectivity of PRM.

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