Journal Published Online: 01 November 2002
Volume 47, Issue 6

The Use of Oral Fluid and Sweat Wipes for the Detection of Drugs of Abuse in Drivers

CODEN: JFSCAS

Abstract

Blood, urine, oral fluid (by spitting or with a Salivette®), and sweat samples (by wiping the forehead with a fleece moistened with isopropanol) were obtained from 180 drivers who failed the field sobriety tests at police roadblocks. With quantitative GC-MS, the positive predictive value of oral fluid was 98, 92, and 90% for amphetamines, cocaine, and cannabis respectively. The prevalence of opiate positives was low. The SAMHSA cut-off values for oral fluid testing at the workplace, proved their usefulness in this study. The positive predictive value of sweat wipe analysis with GC-MS was over 90% for cocaine and amphetamines and 80% for cannabis. The accuracy of Drugwipe® was assessed by comparing the electronic read-out values obtained on-site after wiping the tongue and the forehead, with the corresponding GC-MS results in plasma, oral fluid, and sweat. The accuracy was always less than 90% except for the amphetamine-group in sweat.

Author Information

Samyn, N
National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology, section Toxicology, Brussels, Belgium
De Boeck, G
National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology, section Toxicology, Brussels, Belgium
Verstraete, AG
Laboratory of Clinical Biology-Toxicology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Pages: 8
Price: $25.00
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Stock #: JFS15579J
ISSN: 0022-1198
DOI: 10.1520/JFS15579J