Screening for illicit drugs in pooled human urine and urinated soil samples and studies on the stability of urinary excretion products of cocaine, MDMA, and MDEA in wastewater by hyphenated mass spectrometry techniques
Drug Testing and Analysis February 17, 2016 Marie Mardal, Juliet Kinyua, Pedram Ramin et al. 31 citations
Wastewater-based epidemiology can track community drug use, but biomarkers are often diluted. Pooled urine and urinated soil from festivals were screened for illicit drug excretion products. Cocaine and ecstasy-like compounds were most frequent. A method was developed to quantify their excretion products. Hydroxymethoxymethamphetamine (HMMA), MDMA, MDA, HMMA sulfate, benzoylecgonine, and cocaethylene retained 85–102% of initial concentration after 8 hours, while cocaine and ecgonine methyl ester dropped to 74% and 67%, respectively. HMMA increased over 24 hours, likely from conjugate cleavage and MDMA biotransformation. HMMA is suggested as a stable analytical target for MDMA consumption in wastewater.