Among people who test positive for ketamine, polyconsumption of other drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS) is common. Reanalyzing hair samples from ten former cases—all defendants accused of crimes against public health—using high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) with a methanolic incubation extraction detected additional NPS not found in the original gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The additional substances included other arylcyclohexylamines (deschloroketamine, 3-MeO-PCP, methoxetamine) and cathinones (methylmetcathinone, N-ethyl-pentylone). The new method demonstrated its benefits for NPS prevalence studies.
A reanalysis of hair from a former polydrug consumer, charged with a crime against public health in Spain, positively detected and identified 2C-B, a new psychoactive substance. Using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) with a universal and simpler pretreatment method, the technique enabled selective detection of 2C-B at very low concentrations. The approach demonstrates that advanced analytical methods can identify emerging hallucinogens like 2C-B in forensic hair samples, expanding possibilities for detecting substances of different chemical structures.