Published: Journal of Analytical Toxicology, ISSN 0146-4760, Volume 25, Number 7, October, pp. 637-640

TECHNICAL NOTE: Urine Analysis of Laboratory Personnel Preparing Cocaine Training Aids for a Military Working Dog Program
Jay M. Gehlhausen and Kevin L. Klette
Navy Drug Screening Laboratory, Naval Air Station, Bldg. H2033, Jacksonville, Florida 32212
JoAnn Given
Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Regional Forensic Laboratory, Norfolk, Virginia 23505

As part of the ongoing war against drugs by the Department of Defense (DOD), a military working dog (MWD) program was established at Lackland Air Force Base, TX in 1990 to provide training for drug-detection dogs. This basic training for the dogs and their handlers requires the use of training aids. The training aids are ventilated canisters containing one of the common street drugs and are prepared exclusively by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Regional Forensic Laboratory in Norfolk, VA.

Preparation of the training aids exposes laboratory personnel to street drugs on a recurring basis. As a consequence, the NCIS Regional Forensic Laboratory has monitored casual exposure to marijuana, hashish, heroin (6-acetylmorphine), cocaine, and methylenedioxymethamphetamine through an in-house urinalysis program. The Navy Drug Screening Laboratory (NDSL), Jacksonville, FL, has conducted urinalysis testing for the above samples since 1995.

Whether working in a forensic laboratory or in the field, law enforcement personnel are often exposed to drugs while handling drug evidence, and the possibility of a positive drug test due to on-the-job exposure is a definite concern (1–4). ElSohly (1) examined this possibility with a single subject handling contaminated dollar bills and concluded that the handling of cocaine contaminated articles would not result in a positive benzoylecgonine (BZE) test at the Health and Human Services (HHS) immunoassay screening cutoff level of 300 ng/mL. However, Le et al. (3) observed high levels of BZE including one case where a 1570 ng/mL urine concentration was observed for an employee who sampled a 50-kg seizure of cocaine hydrochloride over a 3-h period.

In the study presented here, 233 human urine samples, collected between December 1999 and January 2001, were tested for the cocaine metabolite, benzoylecgonine, by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Urine samples were collected on days the cocaine training aids were in preparation, including the days preceding and following preparation. This is the first study to provide an assessment of exposure from the preparation of MWD training aids. Test results were evaluated with respect to concentration. Information on personal protective equipment (PPE) used during preparation and its effect on exposure are also examined.

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