What are the possible body fluids to measure drugs of abuse?

Normally urine is the best because there you can see the metabolic pattern of the drugs. Most of the drugs could be found up to a period of 72 hours.

There is also a confirmation of the purity of the sample with urine because mostly it is collected in medical centres or in your doctor’s office. Here the patient has no chance or very little chance to cheat us.

Blood is a difficult sample because the half life of most of the drugs is very short and the concentrations are very low. If you want to produce good results the instrumentations are not only very costly but also very sensitive. The persons assisting you must have good qualification and experience and the laboratory rooms and work places must be arranged in such a way to have no contamination of samples as well as the instruments.

May be few minutes to few hours in blood or three to four days in urine are the time to measure them. Exception is cannabis. The drug delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol is deposited in the muscles and could be found in the urine up to 12 weeks after the last use in abusers.

To know the long time abuse, hair is the best sample, one cm healthy hair grows in one month and even we can say the time of abuse.

If there are no hairs available, pubic hairs are the last resort, here you can measure the drugs but cannot tell the time of abuse.

It is also possible to analyse drugs of abuse in nails, but it is not possible to tell the time of abuse.

Say always no to drugs; they are not good for our health…

The Hindu - Crackdown on ‘hookah lounges’ by S. Vijay Kumar

CHENNAI: The Chennai Police have cracked down on hookah lounges attached to some restaurants in the city following specific allegations that some of them were entertaining minors. Police said there was also information that select customers were being allowed to use narcotic substances (drugs of abuse) in the ‘sheesha.’

According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Central) V.A. Ravikumar, hookah lounges attached to three upmarket restaurants at Nungambakkam were closed down a couple of days ago. “We have sought an explanation from them… the ‘sheesha’ materials have been referred to the Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis. There was an input that young boys and girls were allowed to use hookah. Investigation revealed that minors were being entertained.”

While the restaurant managers produced declarations that the age and identity proof of customers were taken on record, police maintained that minors were using the hookah and often allowed to mix “addictive” substances.

“We ordered the closure of the hookah lounges only after a prima facie case was made out. In one restaurant, there was no lighting at the car parking and couples were allowed to remain in cars for long. This is not moral policing…we’re only enforcing the law. It involves safety of children,” said Mr. Ravikumar.
As a first step towards ensuring any misuse, police have asked the hookah lounges to install closed circuit television (CCTV) systems. “We intend to write to the Chennai Corporation [that issues licence to restaurants] to make it mandatory for hookah lounges to have the CCTV facility as a prerequisite while seeking licence. There should be adequate lighting at parking lots,” he said.

A very good work by Chennai Police, we praise and thank them.

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The Hindu - First Page - Date:30/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/30/stories/2009103058590100.htm

Drugs Abuse - Ketamine

Before I write an article about the designer drugs (party drugs) I would like to write about ketamine. The reason is it is abused in India, including in Chennai. In Europe it is not at all abused. It is like PCP which is also abused only in North America. It is mostly abused by young women and men.

What is ketamine?

Ketamine is a veterinary medicine for more than 30 years, but since 20 years we know the abuse and addiction potential of it. It is an anaesthetic pain relieving and has hallucinogenic properties. It is related to PCP which is also a veterinary medicine. It can produce the feeling of an out-of-body experience. The name ketamine must be known to you because I read this regularly in the newspapers that police has captured somebody who wanted to smuggle this to some other places or countries. It seems Chennai is one of the main places for this dirty business.


Can it make you an addict?

Less physical, but more psychological addiction is the result of prolonged abuse of this drug.

Is it a real painkiller?

It has got excellent painkilling properties and mostly used to control the most severe pain.

What are the effects of ketamine?

The effects often noticed include:

• Hallucinations
• Loss of memory
• Confusion
• Nausea
• Amnesic feeling

What are the side effects?

The side effects are:

• Delirium
• High blood pressure
• Increased heart beat
• Impaired attention and
• Numbness

People who have undergone ketamine anaesthesia report out-of-the-body experiences.

Is the effect like heroin?

No, it is not like heroin, here the addiction is not physical but psychological comparable with cocaine and it is mostly abused to experience the intense psychedelic effects, mostly the out-of-body-experiences.

Is there a possibility to die if I abuse this?

Mortalities only with abuse of ketamine are very rarely reported, if it is abused in combination with tranquilizers or alcohol or other CNS depressant drugs, it is possible.

What are the street names of ketamine?

The street names of ketamine include:

• K
• Special K
• Vitamin K
• Ket
• Green
• Super C
• Baby food
• Jet
• Gas
• Honey oil
• Super acid

It is better not to abuse any drug because it, not only destroys you, but also your whole family.