A new method to monitor drugs at dance venues.

We analysed solid dose formulations retrieved from an amnesty bin at a London dance venue, into which visitors were required to discard illicit drugs and into which security staff place substances found during searches. We obtained a Home Office licence to analyse the contents of the bin, which were removed in the presence of a police officer and sealed in evidence bags. The data reported are for one year up to February 1999. The 299 items, which ranged from single tablets to bags containing several, comprised 156 tablets and 90 powders; 26 cannabis items (joints, herbal material, or blocks of resin); 11 capsules; 10 knives; 5 “snorters” (often, but not exclusively, used to take cocaine or amphetamine); and 1 CS gas canister. Initially, we tried to identify solid dose formulations using the TICTAC database (an identification CD Rom for tablets and capsules). We confirmed or established identification using a simple chemical test, the Marquis reagent and gas chromatography with massspectrometry detection. The Marquis reagent reacts with many of the drugs used in dance venues, including 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA, known as ecstasy) and several related compounds, producing various colour reactions. The table shows the drugs detected in the 105 (67%) tablets and the 79 (88%) powder items that could be identified. A high proportion of the tablets contained MDMA, whereas the powders were predominantly amphetamine. Two formulations of MDMA were not known to the Forensic Science Service, and 16 formulations were not noted in TICTAC. Of concern clinically was the presence of 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA, known as flatliners) in nine tablets. This drug is known to be highly toxic, having been implicated in four deaths in Britain and one in the Netherlands (see www.londontox.org.uk) and does not give a colour reaction with the Marquis reagent. Although there were 17 seizures of 4-MTA in England during 1997-8, the drug was not thought to have been on the streets after late 1998. Our data show, however, that it was still in circulation during 1999. The table also shows that several “prescription only” and “over the counter” medicines were also found, together with some items of confectionery, such as Smints. Some of these substances could have been used fraudulently to mimic illicit drugs, a distinct possibility in the case of paracetamol, which was found powdered and in wraps. It is likely that many of the capsules were food supplements, usually a cocktail of amino acids and vitamins, taken before ingesting ecstasy (a practice known as preloading).