A SIMPLE CHEMICAL TEST FOR IDENTIFICATION OF ECSTASY
Hoffman
RJ1,Winnik G1, Sharma A2, Hahn IH2
1 Maimonides Medical
Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
2 New York City Poison
Control Center, New York, NY, USA
Objective: Marquis reagent (MR) is used by police to
qualitatively identify illicit drugs. MR undergoes a particular color
change when it contacts specific chemical structures and on this basis is
used to identify abused drugs identified, including: 1) 3,4
methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which quickly turns dark blue or
black; 2) amphetamines, which turns orange/brown, and 3) dextromethorphan
(DXM), which turns gray.
Ecstasy use has become a worldwide drug problem. MR may provide
physicians with an inexpensive, rapid method to identify these illicit
drugs in unidentified pills.
Methods: Physicians without experience using MR were
instructed on the color changes that occur with MR testing and were given a
reference color scale. Blinded physicians (n=13) observed for color changes
as MR was added to 50 mg samples from ecstasy tablets (n=25). Later, all
tablets were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to
detect hundreds of drugs including MDMA, amphetamines, and DXM. GC/MS
results were compared with participants’; conclusions to assess
participants’ ability to identify pills containing MDMA, amphetamines, or
DXM. Results: GC/MS detected 19 pills with MDMA and 4 with
amphetamine. No pill contained DXM, none contained multiple drugs, and 2
did not contain any illicit drug. Three participants were 100% accurate
identifying all illicit drugs, others were 40%-80% accurate (average
76%). Misidentifying drugs as
DXM caused 76% of inaccuracies, and when corrected for this, participants
were 94% accurate in drug identification.
Conclusions: Accuracy of inexperienced physicians using MR
to identify drugs in Ecstasy tablets varies. All participants believed that
demonstration of MR using controls would allow MR to be used with a high
degree of accuracy. Physicians may use MR to identify illicit drugs in
unidentified pills, which aiding in diagnosis or management.