Technology Update Developments in Drug Testing: as an Alternate To Urine and

By Alim Fatah and Jeffrey P. Cohn

an saliva and other fluids in safe. Testing blood inherently in of oral fluids present in the mouth, the mouth be used to test volves a needle, an intrusive and diffi including those produced by the three prison and jail inmates, as cult procedure with some infectious major and several minor saliva glands. Cwell as others, for illegal drug risks. Urine testing requires having Adults can produce more than 1,000 use? Can saliva produce results that someone watch inmates urinate into a milliliters of saliva daily, including are as reliable as current techniques cup, an uneasy, distasteful experience about 5 milliliters per minute while using blood, or urine for inmates and observers alike. Once spitting, and .05 milliliters per minute samples? And can those results be collected, laboratory technicians need while sleeping. used to predict drug concentrations in to isolate the drugs from potential blood and urine? The answer is a qual interferences naturally found in blood Restrictions To ified “Yes,” although further research and urine before the sample can be is needed before saliva testing can tested. That process complicates labo Further Examine become a legally and scientifically ratory testing, adds to its cost and Before saliva can become an accepted method. duration and increases the chances accepted specimen for illegal drug A comprehensive, multiyear study for mistakes. testing, several problems have to be by the University of Utah’s Center for Detecting drugs using saliva inter resolved. For one, current testing Human Toxicology (CHT) in Salt Lake ests the law enforcement, prison and methods usually measure the chemi City found that illegal drugs can be testing communities because it is a cal breakdown products of illegal detected in saliva. The study also clean and relatively easy liquid to test drugs rather than the parent drugs found that the drug concentration with conventional drug-screening and themselves. Usually, those parent found in saliva corresponds to the confirmation techniques. It can be col drugs are found in saliva more often drug dosage. In addition, the saliva lected simply — by spitting or collect than the breakdown products. Eventu concentrations of particular drugs can ing on a dental swab placed in the ally, however, this may be helpful be used to predict how much of those mouth — and in a less invasive and because the parent drugs often can be drugs are in the blood. The study was less embarrassing manner than blood extracted from a saliva sample more conducted by a team of researchers or urine. Many illegal drugs, including easily than the metabolites. through a grant from the National heroin, and , Also, if an inmate being tested has Institute of Standards and Technolo- can be detected in saliva. And because recently smoked, say, a marijuana gy’s (NIST) Office of Law Enforcement saliva is derived from blood, drug con joint, saliva concentrations of tetrahy Standards in Gaithersburg, Md. The centrations found in oral fluids should drocannabinol will likely be elevated. funding was provided by the National reflect those present in the blood. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the Institute of Justice. “There is a wealth of background active ingredient in marijuana. That These findings directly affect the literature (some dated) on the collec would make saliva, at least temporari work of prison and jail officials, as well tion, analysis and interpretation of ly, a poor predictor of how much THC as police and prosecutors. Two-thirds many drugs in oral fluid,” the is in the blood or other specimens. of prison inmates admit that they use NIST/University of Utah researchers Several hours would have to pass and illegal drugs, one-third of those who wrote in their NIJ report Evaluation of repeat tests would be needed before commit crimes used drugs during Saliva/Oral Fluid as an Alternate Drug saliva concentrations will actually cor their crimes and about two-thirds of Testing Specimen, which will be pub relate with those in the blood. The drivers involved in fatal highway lished later this year. “Oral fluid same is true for other drugs. crashes have detectable levels of appears to have promise as a speci Further, the methods used to stim drugs and/or alcohol in their blood or men for testing in the criminal justice ulate the flow of saliva and collect it urine. system.” Their study is one of the lat can affect the results. Collection by an est results of a 30-year collaborative absorbent dental swab placed in the Benefits effort between NIJ and NIST to develop mouth, for example, requires an addi standards and guidelines for tech-nol- tional testing step of separating the Unfortunately, conventional blood ogy used in the law enforcement and saliva from the swab that spitting into and urine testing of prison or jail criminal justice systems. a container does not. inmates — still the gold standard of The word saliva is commonly used drug testing — is not always easy or to describe the complex combination The study also found that some researchers hoped that they could use ing saliva as a means for testing commercially available products for certain chemicals, called immunoglob people for illegal drug use that could collecting saliva are less reliable or ulins, that are always found in oral flu complement and perhaps one day more time consuming than others. ids. Unfortunately, the immunoglobu replace testing of blood, blood plasma Some devices take less than one lin concentrations in test saliva and urine. minute to collect or absorb saliva samples remained largely unaffected while others take up to five minutes. despite having subjects rinse their Alim A. Fatah, Ph.D., is a program Some result in such small sample sizes mouths to simulate how an inmate manager for chemical systems and that accurate testing is difficult. Fur might seek to mask having recently materials projects at the Department of ther testing and product development, smoked marijuana or taken another Commerce National Institute of Stan as well as developing standards for drug. dards and Technology. He works at the assessing product reliability, will be Despite these problems and limita NIJ-funded Office of Law Enforcement necessary. tions, and the need for more study, Standards at NIST. Jeffrey P. Cohn is a More research is also needed to saliva testing can work to screen indi freelance writer who specializes in sci develop a chemical marker in saliva viduals for the use of many drugs. Sci ence and technology. He is a contract that can be used to ensure that the entists need to refine the techniques writer with NIJ. sample to be tested has not been dilut and improve collection devices. Still, ed or otherwise altered. The study’s there is now the potential for develop

Detecting drugs using saliva interests the law enforcement, prison and testing communities because it is a clean and relatively easy liquid to test with conventional drug-screening and confirmation techniques.

Reprinted from the October 2003 issue of Corrections Today, Vol. 65, No. 6 with permission from:

The American Correctional Association, 4380 Forbes Blvd., Lanham, Maryland 20706