Identification of Plant-based Forensic Evidence by Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS), Chemotaxonomic Profiling, and Chemometrics

摘要

In current forensic drug testing, a new paradigm is emerging where the drugs that are being submitted to crime labs for analysis are no longer restricted to well-characterized abused substances such as cocaine, heroin, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and prescription drugs, among many other substances. The advent of plant based drugs of abuse has called into question the utility of the use of well-established conventional techniques in the analysis of novel and ever changing drug formulations. There are few standard operating protocols (SOPs) available to analyze these complex plant matrices and the psychotropic compounds within them. Furthermore, the ever-shifting landscape in terms of the variety of plant drugs available makes method development and validation based on previously established rubrics highly impractical. This problem has made it exceedingly difficult for law enforcement to analyze and identify plant-based drugs of abuse, and has rendered the judicial system impotent in dealing with this problem which has reached epidemic proportions.