Screening for drugs of abuse in urine samples from a drug addiction center.

The present analytical methods used in a laboratory monitoring urine specimens collected from patients attending one of the Drug Dependency Units are described and compared with other published methods. In particular a new and simple thin-layer chromatographic system and its application to the identification of the drugs of abuse extracted from urine samples is described. The results obtained during 1974 and February 1975 are tabulated, showing the trends in drug abuse that have occurred in one area of London during that period. The usefulness of these results and of urine monitoring in relation to the treatment of the addicts is also briefly considered.