Deposition of 7-aminoflunitrazepam and flunitrazepam in hair after a single dose of Rohypnol (R)

In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the number of reports on drug-facilitated sexual assault, Benzodiazepines are the most common so -called "date-rape" drugs, with flunitrazepam (Rohypnol (R)) being one of t he most frequently mentioned. The aim of this study was to determine whethe r flunitrazepam and its major metabolite 7-aminoflunitrazepam could be dete cted in hair collected from ten healthy volunteers after receiving a single 2 mg dose of Rohypnol (R) using solid phase extraction and NCI-GC-MS. Such data would be of great importance to law enforcement agencies trying to de termine the best time interval for hair collection from a victim of drug-fa cilitated sexual assault in order to reveal drug use. Ten healthy volunteer s (eight women and two men, 21 to 49 years old) participated in the study. The following hair samples were collected from each volunteer: one before f lunitrazepam administration, and 1, 3, 5, 14, 21, and 28 days after. In fiv e volunteers, 7-aminoflunitrazepam was detected 24 h after flunitrazepam ad ministration and remained in hair throughout the entire 28-day study period (0.6-8.0 pg/mg). In two cases, 7-aminoflunitrazepam appeared in hair 21 da ys after drug intake (0.5-2.7 pg/mg), and in two subjects 14 days later (0. 5-5.4 pg/mg). In one volunteer, 7-aminoflunitrazepam was detected on day 14 and 21 but concentrations were below the quantitation limit. Flunitrazepam was detected in some samples but all concentrations were below the quantit ation limit (0.5-2.3 pg/mg).