Journal of analytical toxicology
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Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive compound present in marijuana. THC can also be found, as a contaminant, in some commercially available hemp products marketed in health food stores and on the internet as a good source of essential fatty acids. The products range from oil to alcoholic beverages to nutritional bars to candies, with oil being the most popular and commonly available. ⋯ No THC was detected in 58% of the products from group 1 and 86% of the products from group 2. The amounts indicate that THC levels in currently marketed hemp products are significantly lower than in those products available before 2003 and reported in previous studies. The results reported here may be used as a general guideline for the THC content of hemp products recently found in the marketplace today.
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The identification of benzodiazepines (BZD) in biological fluids can be a challenging process. The large number of various BZD in pharmaceutical distribution, with similar core structures, and individual metabolic profiles all contribute to a complicated and time-consuming analysis. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the performance of four commercially available immunoassay urine screening kits for use in a forensic urine analysis testing program. ⋯ In addition, greater than 10,000 randomly collected urine samples were screened at a 200 ng/mL cutoff for each assay. Positive samples were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using a panel of 13 BZD confirmation standards. The Microgenics CEDIA high sensitivity assay demonstrated the highest positive screening rate as well as the highest confirmation rate of the four assays.