Circulating in prisons, a new psychoactive substance has triggered challenges and health risks for the criminal justice system.
A recent case in 2021 involved a letter sent from a German prison which was suspected to be drug infused.Toxicology tests were performed on the letter with the use of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the drug screening and liquid chromatography (LC)–tandem mass spectrometry with the addition of high-performance LC with diode-array detection for semi-quantification of the compounds.
Results concluded that the novel synthetic opioid (NSO) AP-237 was identified on the letter with an estimated concentration of 1.2 μg/cm2, together with the synthetic cannabinoid MDMB-4en-PINACA (77 μg/cm2) and 5F-ADB (6.5 μg/cm2).
It is understood that the potent NSOs could be dissolved in organic solvents therefore producing impregnated papers and textiles, consequently causing a serious threat to the health of prisoners.
Laboratories analysing these suspected papers should be aware of the potential presence of NSOs and adapt the respective methods accordingly.
