Cross-reactivities of 39 new amphetamine designer drugs on three abuse drugs urinary screening tests

The detection of illicit drugs is important both
in the management of substance misuse and in the postmortem
identification of drug abuse. Urinary screening
assays have been available for many years, and have been
successfully utilized for detecting misuse. Urine remains
the biological tool of choice to verify drug-free behavior
because of noninvasive sampling and high concentrations
of drugs and metabolites. Herein we describe the crossreactivities
of 39 new amphetamine designer drugs on three
different on-site abuse drugs urinary screening tests
(Screen7, SureStepTM, InstAlertTM), which are commonly
available in forensic laboratories and in the clinical environment.
They are chromatographic immunoassay tests for
the qualitative detection of amphetamine, methamphetamine,
and methylenedioxymethamphetamine at the recommended
cutoff according to Italian legislation (500 ng/
ml). The speed and sensitivity of these tests have made
them the most widely accepted method to screen urine for
drugs of abuse.