Ephedrone – New Street Drug Obtained from Proasthmin

Medicines which contain ephedrine are currently the object of great interest among Polish drug addicts. One of these medicines is the antiasthmatic drug Proasthmin. The oxidation product of ephedrine, its component is ephedrone. The aim of this study was to elaborate the best conditions for the determination of ephedrone and the other components of Proasthmin in products manufactured and used by drug addicts. Analyses were performed using TLC, HPLC and GC. An application of the TLC method for screening and the HPLC-DAD or the GC-FID methods for confirmation of the presence of ephedrone and its quantitation, even in small residue of clandestine products, are very useful. These sequence of methods are used to detect ephedrone in mixture of high amounts of by-products, theophylline and phenobarbitane without extraction process.