From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based Platform
According to the 2021 World Drug Report, around 275 million people use drugs of abuse, and 36 million people suffer from addiction, fostering a thriving market for illicit substances. In Italy, 30,083 people were reported to the Judicial Authority for offenses in violation of the Italian Law D.P.R....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Molecules |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/28/1/164 |
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| author | Fabio Gosetti Viviana Consonni Davide Ballabio Marco Emilio Orlandi Angelo Amodio Maria Valeria Picci Marco Visentin Veronica Termopoli |
| author_facet | Fabio Gosetti Viviana Consonni Davide Ballabio Marco Emilio Orlandi Angelo Amodio Maria Valeria Picci Marco Visentin Veronica Termopoli |
| author_sort | Fabio Gosetti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | According to the 2021 World Drug Report, around 275 million people use drugs of abuse, and 36 million people suffer from addiction, fostering a thriving market for illicit substances. In Italy, 30,083 people were reported to the Judicial Authority for offenses in violation of the Italian Law D.P.R. 309/1990. These offences are sentenced after a qualitative–quantitative analysis of seized materials. Given the large quantity of seized drugs and the need to perform accurate analytical determinations, Italian forensic laboratories struggle to complete analyses in a short time, delaying the entire reporting process needed to achieve sentencing. For this purpose, an UHPLC-MS/MS-based platform was developed at the University of Milano-Bicocca to support law-enforcement authorities. Software was designed to easily manage street seizure acquisition, documentation registration, and sampling. A sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method was fully validated for the quantification of the traditional illicit substances (cocaine, heroin, 6-MAM, morphine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, ketamine, GHB, GBL, LSD, trans-∆9-THC, and THCA) at the ppb level. The final report is relayed to the Prefecture in 3–4 days, even within 24 h for urgent requests. The platform allows for semi-automatic data handling to minimize erroneous results for an accurate report generation by standardized procedures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:29:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-01271cc7aa4641bc8aeb1ac5594f3b9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1420-3049 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:29:03Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecules |
| spelling | doaj.art-01271cc7aa4641bc8aeb1ac5594f3b9d2023-12-03T14:57:00ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492022-12-0128116410.3390/molecules28010164From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based PlatformFabio Gosetti0Viviana Consonni1Davide Ballabio2Marco Emilio Orlandi3Angelo Amodio4Maria Valeria Picci5Marco Visentin6Veronica Termopoli7Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milan, ItalyLegione Carabinieri Lombardia, Comando Provinciale di Milano Sezione, Investigazioni Scientifiche L.A.S.S., Via V. Monti 58, 20145 Milan, ItalyGabinetto Regionale di Polizia Scientifica per la Lombardia, Polizia di Stato, Via Fatebenefratelli 11, 20121 Milan, ItalyGabinetto Regionale di Polizia Scientifica per la Lombardia, Polizia di Stato, Via Fatebenefratelli 11, 20121 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milan, ItalyAccording to the 2021 World Drug Report, around 275 million people use drugs of abuse, and 36 million people suffer from addiction, fostering a thriving market for illicit substances. In Italy, 30,083 people were reported to the Judicial Authority for offenses in violation of the Italian Law D.P.R. 309/1990. These offences are sentenced after a qualitative–quantitative analysis of seized materials. Given the large quantity of seized drugs and the need to perform accurate analytical determinations, Italian forensic laboratories struggle to complete analyses in a short time, delaying the entire reporting process needed to achieve sentencing. For this purpose, an UHPLC-MS/MS-based platform was developed at the University of Milano-Bicocca to support law-enforcement authorities. Software was designed to easily manage street seizure acquisition, documentation registration, and sampling. A sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method was fully validated for the quantification of the traditional illicit substances (cocaine, heroin, 6-MAM, morphine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, ketamine, GHB, GBL, LSD, trans-∆9-THC, and THCA) at the ppb level. The final report is relayed to the Prefecture in 3–4 days, even within 24 h for urgent requests. The platform allows for semi-automatic data handling to minimize erroneous results for an accurate report generation by standardized procedures.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/28/1/164street seizuresUHPLC-MS/MSillicit substancespsychotropic substancesdrugs of abuse mass spectrometry |
| spellingShingle | Fabio Gosetti Viviana Consonni Davide Ballabio Marco Emilio Orlandi Angelo Amodio Maria Valeria Picci Marco Visentin Veronica Termopoli From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based Platform Molecules street seizures UHPLC-MS/MS illicit substances psychotropic substances drugs of abuse mass spectrometry |
| title | From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based Platform |
| title_full | From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based Platform |
| title_fullStr | From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based Platform |
| title_full_unstemmed | From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based Platform |
| title_short | From the Streets to the Judicial Evidence: Determination of Traditional Illicit Substances in Drug Seizures by a Rapid and Sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS-Based Platform |
| title_sort | from the streets to the judicial evidence determination of traditional illicit substances in drug seizures by a rapid and sensitive uhplc ms ms based platform |
| topic | street seizures UHPLC-MS/MS illicit substances psychotropic substances drugs of abuse mass spectrometry |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/28/1/164 |
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