Current Patterns of Designer Drug Use in the US Electronic Dance - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Jill Yeakel, MS

Current Patterns of Designer Drug Use in the US Electronic Dance Music Community

Disclaimer

The project was supported by Award No. 2013- DN-BX-K018, awarded by the National Institute

• f Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.

Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those

• f the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect

those of the Department of Justice.

Designer Drugs: Recent History

• 2009-2010: Evidence of synthetic cathinone

abuse in European countries and US

• October 2011: US DEA emergency scheduled

MDPV, Mephedrone, Methylone

– Signed into law June 2012 for MDPV, Mephedrone

Project Background

• Designer drugs: unregulated psychoactive

constituents (phenethylamines, cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids)

• Increased in popularity recently, especially prevalent

at electronic dance music (EDM) festivals

• Collect biological samples from EDM festival

attendees

Project Objectives

• Analyze samples to obtain information

regarding:

– New drugs on the market – Prevalence of designer drugs – Identification of novel designer drugs and metabolites – Correlations and comparisons of designer drugs in blood, urine and oral fluid specimens

Verbal Recruitment

• Approached possible participants on their way

to the EDM festival

• Recruiters provided possible volunteers with

brief overview of goals and requirements

• Recruiting Tactics

– Public Health Aspect – Harm Reduction – Incentives – “Helping Science”

Sample Collection Location

• Location was ~100 yards from the entrance gate

Sample Collection

• Step 1: Consent

forms/Survey

• Step 2: Oral Fluid

Collection

– Quantisal – Alere DDS2 Cartridge

• Step 3: Urine
• Step 4: Blood

Disclosure: Participants were not required to donate all 4 samples, and only donated samples based on their comfort

• level. The gift card incentive was only given if the participant donated a blood sample.

Participant Attire

Participant Demographics

• Total number of participants: 145
• Average age of participants: 24
• Females: 60
• Males: 74
• Admitted to drug use in past week: 103 (71%)
• Total number of urine samples collected: 104

Urine Results

• Samples underwent a battery of screen and

confirmation tests:

– Immunoassay – Volatiles – RapidFire-MS/MS – GC/MS – LC-QTOF – LC-MS/MS

Immunoassay

• All negative: LSD, Opiates, 6AM, Barbiturates, K2

Kit # Positives # Confirm Positive % Positive

MDMA 8 8 7.7 Cocaine 17 17 16.3 Oxycodone 2 2 1.9 Amphetamines 11 11 (6) 10.6 THC 53 53 51.0 Methamphetamine 11 9 (6, 2) 8.7 Benzodiazepines 6 2 1.9 PCP 3

Volatiles

Analyte # Positives % Positive

Alcohol 29 27.9 Acetone 13 12.5 Alcohol + 1 Drug 11 10.6 Alcohol + Multiple Drugs 15 14.4

RapidFire MS/MS

Analyte # Positive # Confirm Positives (>10)

Methylone 16 19 a-PVP 5 13 Butylone/Ethylone 6 6 25I-NBOMe 1 a-PPP 6 JWH018-COOH 4 JWH073-COOH 2

GC/MS Results

Result # GC/MS + # Confirm + % of Total

Positivity Rate

(# Positives/Total # Positives)

68 189 36.0 Confirmation Rate

(# Screen Positives/# Confirm Positives)

68 98 69.4

LC-QTOF Results

Result # LC-QTOF + # Confirm + % of Total

Positivity Rate

(# Positives/Total # Positives)

106 189 55.6 Confirmation Rate

(# Screen Positives/# Confirm Positives)

106 109 97.2

Drug Testing Results Screen vs. Confirm

10 20 30 40 50 60 Screen Confirmation

% Confirmation Rate

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

% Positive Rate

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0

Drug Results

“Class” Analyte # Positives

Benzodiazepines Alprazolam/a-OH 2 Oxazepam 1 Amines Amphetamine 7 Methamphetamine 5 MDA 11 MDMA 9 Cocaine Benzoylecgonine 29 Cocaine 14 Cocaethylene 6 Opiates Tramadol 3 Methadone/EDDP 1 Oxycodone 3 Oxymorphone 2 Buprenorphine/Nor 1

Drug Results ctnd.

“Class” Analyte # Positives

Designers Methylone 23 Butylone 9 Ethylone 6 4-FA 4 a-PVP 13 Dimethylone 10 5-APB 1 2-CB 1 Other Compounds Bupropion 1 Dextromethorphan 6 Cyclobenzaprine 1 Fluoxetine 3 Methylphenidate 1 DMAA 1 Psilocin 1 Dehydronorketamine/Nor 2 Azacyclonal 1

Result Dispersion %

16.3 7.7 21.2 4.8 34.6 15.4 Negative Alcohol Only Single Drug Positive 1 Drug + Alcohol Multiple Drug Positive Multiple Drugs + Alcohol

Drug Popularity

• Most commonly encountered compounds:

– THC (51.0%) – Alcohol (27.9%) – Cocaine (23.1%) – Methylone (22.1%)

• Most common combinations:

– Cocaine/THC (18.3%) – Methylone/THC (14.4%) – Methylone/Cocaine (13.5%) – Methylone/MDMA (5.8%)

Admissions vs. Results

• Most commonly admitted to compounds:

– THC (40.0%) – Actual positives = 51% – Alcohol (18.0%) – Actual positives = 27.9% – Cocaine (12.4%) – Actual positives = 23.1% – Ecstasy/MDMA (12.4%) – Actual positives = 12.5% – Molly (10.3%) – Actual positives = 22.1% (Methylone)

• Note: All admissions were for recreational drugs or medications ingested over the past week

Thank You

• Thank you to everyone involved in

the grant for you participation and help

Melissa Friscia, Mandi Mohr, Dr. Barry Logan,

Thank You

• Thank you to everyone at AFMES for helping with all

the aliquoting, extractions, data analysis, etc.

Aliquoting – Alex Layne, Lauryne Gauthier Volatiles – HM2 Huseman, Amber Dickson Immunoassay/GC/MS Base Screen – Garland Hayward LC-QTOF Screen – John Kristofic Quants – Joseph Addison, Sarah Shoemaker, Jessica Knittel, Jeff Chmiel RapidFire – Dr. Arianne Motter, Jillian Neifeld Synthetic Cannabinoids – Dona’Rae Boucek, Lauryne Gauthier Project Coordination – CDR Bosy, Joseph Magluilo, Shawn Vorce, Justin Holler

Questions?