[The urinary screening and identification of amphetamines in clinical toxicology laboratory--VGH]

Amphetamines abuse has recently become a problem in this country. Four case identification, we used Emit-d.a.u. amphetamine assay to screen the amphetamines in human urine, and then confirmed them by gas chromatography-ion trap detector (GC-ITD). From January 1989 to August 1990, 267 urinary samples were requested by the physicians for amphetamine identification. Six samples were accompanied with drug powders used by the patients. Among the 267 samples, 79 were confirmed for the presence for both of methamphetamine and amphetamine. Neither the presence of amphetamine nor methamphetamine itself was detected. Among the six packs of drug powder tested, methamphetamine but not amphetamine was detected in four. We found that fenfluramine and diethylpropion would have false positive amphetamine reactions in Emit-d.a.u. assay. All the samples originated from 34 hospitals were widely distributed in the country. Other drugs concomitantly used included ethanol, morphine, flunitrazepam and ephedrine. Since methamphetamine can be metabolized to amphetamine but not vers versa, our study confirmed the abuse of methamphetamine not amphetamine in this country.