O11: Differentiation between chewing of coca leaves and abuse of cocaine by hair analysis

Abstract

Aims Contrary to the illegal use of any form of manufactured cocaine, chewing of coca leaves and drinking of coca tea is allowed and is very common and socially integrated in several South American countries. Because of this different legal state, an analytical method for discrimination between use of coca leaves and abuse of artificial cocaine preparations is required. In this study, the applicability of hair analysis for this purpose was examined. Methods Hair samples from 26 Argentinean coca chewers and 22 German cocaine users were analysed for cocaine (COC), norcocaine (NC), benzoylecgonine (BE), ecgonine methyl ester (EME), cocaethylene (CE), cinnamoylcocaine (CIN), tropacocaine (TRO), cuscohygrine (CUS) and hygrine (HYG) by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) in combination with triplequad mass spectrometry (QQQ-MS) and hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS). Results The following concentrations (range, mean, median, ng/mg) were determined in hair of the coca chewers: COC 0.085–75.5, 22.7, 17.0; NC 0.03–1.15, 0.27, 0.12; BE 0.046–35.5, 10.1, 6.1; EME 0.014–6.0, 1.04, 0.66; CE 0.00–13.8, 3.06, 0.38; CIN 0.005–16.8, 2.82, 0.79; TRO 0.02–0.16, 0.035, 0.023; CUS 0.026–26.7, 2.45, 0.31. In lack of a reference substance, only qualitative data were obtained for HYG and two metabolites of CUS were detected which were not found in hair of the cocaine users. For interpretation, the concentrations of the metabolites and the coca alkaloids in relation to cocaine were statistically compared between coca chewers and cocaine users. By analysis of variance (ANOVA) significant differences were found for all analytes (α = 0.000 to 0.030) with the exception of TRO (α = 0.218). The ratios CUS/COC, CIN/COC and EME/COC appeared to be the most suitable criteria for discrimination between both groups with the means and medians 5-fold to 10-fold higher for coca chewers and a low overlap of the ranges between both groups. The same was qualitatively found for HYG. Screening for typical cutting agents led to detection of levamisole (21x), lidocaine (6x) and paracetamol (3x) in the 22 samples from German cocaine users whereas no levamisole, lidocaine (3x) and paracetamol (1x) was found in hair from the Argentinean coca chewers. Conclusion Hair analysis proved to be a suitable tool for discrimination between chewing of coca leaves and use of manufactured cocaine by detection of other coca alkaloids and their concentrations relative to cocaine, and by the absence of typical adulterants. However, these criteria have to be confirmed for South American cocaine consumers including smokers of coca paste because of possible different composition of illegal cocaine preparations and other use habits. They cannot exclude occasional cocaine use in addition to chewing of coca leaves.