Drug Early Warning from Re-Testing Biological Samples

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The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President, is seeking applications from public nonprofit institutions/organizations (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals) to perform research and analysis of data to inform drug policy. This project seeks to further refine a methodology for obtaining drug early warning indicators from expanded testing of urine samples that were previously collected and tested as part of an existing drug test protocol. This method was initially developed using local criminal justice populations – including persons in pre-trial or lock-up, parolees or probationers, and drug court participants. Similar methodology is promising for use in other venues, such as in trauma units and emergency departments, where biological samples are often collected from patients. Before the specimens are discarded, the project will re-test them for an expanded panel of drugs, including synthetic cannabinoids, to determine what old and new illicit drugs are detected or missed by conventional testing protocols, and how the drug patterns might vary by subpopulation and geography. By passing the expense of collecting the original specimens and re-using those that have already been tested with known results yields a relatively inexpensive and timely picture of emerging drugs in a given subpopulation and locality. ONDCP expects to continue to engage the laboratory testing services of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) at no charge to further minimize project costs.

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