CHARACTERIZATION OF DEXTROMORAMIDE (PALFIUM) ABUSE BY HAIR ANALYSIS IN A DENIED CASE

By providing information on exposure to drugs over time, hair analysis is useful in verifying the history of drug use. In a clinical case, w here drug abuse was denied, it was possible to identify dextromoramide in the hair of the subject. After acid hydrolysis of the hair with 0. 1 M HCl, in the presence of SKF 525 A as an internal standard, the dru g was extracted at pH 8.4 with chloroform-isopropanol-n-heptane (50:17 :33 v/v) and quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The h air strands were cut into 3 sections of 2.5 cm, corresponding to a gro wth period of 2 months. Concentrations were 1.09, 1.93 and 1.48 ng/mg from the root to the end, respectively. This is the first report on de xtromoramide testing in human hair.