SOFT/TIAFT 98 - Detection Times of Morphine and 6-Acetylmorphine...

SOFT - TIAFT 1998

Scientific Session 2

Wednesday October 7, 1998

DETECTION TIMES OF MORPHINE AND 6-ACETYLMORPHINE IN URINE AFTER INTRAVENOUS HEROIN
	Edward J. Cone, Amanda J. Jenkins, William D. Darwin, Michael L. Smith, Jacqueline Summers, Eric Shimomura* and Budda D. Paul* Addiction Research Center, IRP, NIDA, NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA * Division of Forensic Toxicology, AFIP, Rockville, MD, USA.

Detection times by GC-MS for total morphine and 6-acetylmorphine were determined following intravenous administration of 3, 6 and 12 mg doses of heroin*HCl to 8 male subjects. Subjects provided informed consent and the study was conducted on a closed clinical ward under carefully supervised medical conditions. All urine specimens were collected frozen and analyzed by GC-MS for total morphine and 6-acetyl morphine by DOD protocols. Mean detection times (hours to last positive) ± SEM at different cutoff concentrations are shown in the table.

Heroin	Morphine	Morphine	Morphine	6-AM
Dose, mg	>4000 ng/mL	>2000 ng/mL	>300 ng/mL	>10 ng/mL

3	0.3 ± 0.3	2.7 ± 0.4	18.5 ± 2.5	2.3 ± 0.4
Range	0-2.7	1.6-4.5	10.2-29.6	1.2-4.5
6	3.8 ± 0.7	5.3 ± 1.0	24.8 ± 2.3	2.6 ± 0.4
Range	0-6.2	1-10.1	15.5-32.4	1.2-5.1
12	6.6 ± 0.6	10.1 ± 1.0	35.3 ± 3.7	4.5 ± 0.6
Range	4.1-9.3	5.9-13.5	20.2-53.3	2.3-7.5

The net effect of changing the confirmation cutoff concentration for total morphine, as proposed by DHHS from 300 ng/mL to 2000 ng/mL was to lower detection times to ranges similar to or slightly longer than those obtained for 6-AM. Use of the 4000 ng/mL DOD confirmation cutoff reduced detection times further. Overall, it appears that single doses of heroin will be detected for less than 12 hours at the 2000 ng/mL cutoff concentrations.

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