Prevalence of Fentanyl and Its Analogues in a Court-Ordered Mandatory Drug Testing Population

• NCJ Number: 308639
• Author(s): Megan Grabenauer; Nichole Bynum
• Date Published: 2024
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2019-R2-CX-0017
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This report describes a project seeking to provide timely, evidence-based intelligence on criminal justice populations regarding growing rates of drug use and patterns of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds use; it presents a summary of goals and objectives, research questions, project design and methods, results, and applicability to criminal justice; and appendices include Hair Classification Descriptions, LC-MS/MS Method, Results of Fentanyl-Related Compounds and Other Compounds, and Most Common Drugs Detected in Oral Fluid Confirmation Testing and in Hair Confirmation Testing.

Abstract

This summary report discusses the research methods and results of a project that aimed to provide timely, evidence-based intelligence on growing rates of drug use and patterns of use of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds among incarcerated populations. The project is a response to the US opioid epidemic that has resulted in an increase in law enforcement drug seizures and opioid overdose deaths, which has led to court-ordered mandatory drug testing (COMDT) of hair samples. The testing is routinely done at large commercial laboratories but does not typically include testing for fentanyl or fentanyl-related compounds. The report describes the two project phases, which focus on determining the prevalence of fentanyl and a selection of fentanyl-related compounds in hair specimens submitted for COMDT over six months, and Phase II, which involved a retrospective analysis of COMDT data from a five-year period. The report presents actionable information from several, geographically diverse US jurisdictions, and represents the first large-scale drug prevalence study in a COMDT population.