NCJ Number
164345
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Dated: (May 1996) Pages: 524-526
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Because of methamphetamine's rare occurrence in east coast medical examiners' cases and because of the authors' interest in the detection of impurities of illicit methamphetamine manufacture in biological samples as a means of tracking supply sources, this article presents a case of a "mixed drug" fatality that involved methamphetamine.
Abstract
A 37-year-old white male collapsed at his home following a party. He reportedly had a history of unspecified cardiac arrhythmia. The ambulance crew found him unresponsive and an ECG revealed ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation. Following 1 hour of resuscitative efforts in the ambulance and emergency room of a local hospital, he was pronounced dead. An antemortem urine toxicology screen performed at the hospital was "positive" for benzodiazepines, cocaine, and amphetamine/methamphetamine. At autopsy, there was generalized organ congestion with no evidence of trauma or other significant pathology except mild, left ventricular hypertrophy. Quantitation by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of methamphetamine in bile, blood, urine, and gastric contents yielded 21.7, 0.7, 32.0, and 2.9 mg/L, respectively. Liver and brain contained 2.2 and 2.7 mg/kg, respectively. A trace amount of p-OH-alpha-benzyl-N- methylphenethylamine, a metabolite of alpha-benzyl-N- methylphenethylamine, an impurity of illicit methamphetamine synthesis, was also detected in the urine. Since these impurities can be characteristic of a particular synthetic method, their presence in seized samples or their detection in biological samples from methamphetamine users can further be used to monitor the sales of precursor chemicals; group seized compounds to common sources of illicit production; or provide links between manufacturers, dealers, and users. 2 tables and 26 references