[en] Methods have been developed for quantitative analysis of commonly abused drugs in physiological fluids using gas chromatography/chemical ionization mass spectrometry. The methods are being evaluated in volunteer analytical and toxicological laboratories, and analytical manuals describing the methods are being prepared. The specific drug and metabolites included in this program are: Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol, methadone, phencyclidine, methaqualone, morphine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, mescaline, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methyl amphetamine, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, diazepam, and N-desmethyldiazepam. The current analytical methods utilize relatively conventional instrumentation and procedures, and are capable of measuring drug concentrations as low as 1 ng/ml. Various newer techniques such as sample clean-up by high performance liquid chromatography, separation by glass capillary chromatography, and ionization by negative ion chemical ionization are being investigated with respect to their potential for achieving higher sensitivity and specificity, as well as their ability to facilitate simultaneous analysis of more than one drug and metabolite. (Auth.)

[en] A comparison was made of the relative sensitivities of electron impact and chemical ionization when used for selected ion monitoring analysis of commonly abused drugs. For most of the drugs examined chemical ionization using ammonia as the reactant gas gave the largest single m/e ion current response per unit weight of sample. However, if maximum sensitivity is desired it is important to evaluate electron impact and chemical ionization with respect to both maximum response and degree of interference from background and endogenous materials