DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF LORAZEPAM IN HUMAN HAIR BY GC-MS NCI IN A CASE OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENT/

A traffic accident caused by a man who declared that he was driving un der influence of drugs (Temesta), led our laboratory to develop a proc edure for the detection and the quantification of lorazepam in human h air. The method involves decontamination of hair with dichloromethane, incubation in Soerensen buffer (pH 7.6) in the presence of lorazepam- d(4), liquid-liquid extraction with diethylether-chloroform (80:20, v/ v) at pH 8.4, derivatization by silylation and detection by GC-MS/NCI. The increasing concentrations of lorazepam from the end to the roots of a 16-cm-long hair strand (i.e. 31 pg/mg, 40 pg/mg and 49 pg/mg) pro ved that the driver had taken the drug over a long period of time.