[mike]

Wow Pritzie, that sucks, some people have bad luck don't they. I don't really know what you are going through as I have not been there myself, but my thoughts are with you and I hope that you keep finding the strength to battle  on. Sounds like you are a tough and spirited person, good luck.

By the way, I don't know what it is like where you live, but here in Australia we have a medical board for each state where you can go to complain/find out about doctors and all that sort of thing (kind of a higher power I guess you could say). Maybe you have the same thing there?

[jdurg]

Hairs are full of many cross-linked sulfur containing compounds.  Numerous drugs and drug metabolites will get 'trapped' in this crosslinking which is why users will test positive on a hair test.  Once the drug or metabolite has become trapped in your hair, it will remain there until the hair falls out.  That's why it can be detected for such a long time.  In the case of cocaine, the half-life of the drug in the body is so short that the unaltered drug will not find its way into your hair.  Only the metabolites can.  (The drug itself will have been metabolised long before it gets into your hair follicles).  However, if you are in an atmosphere with a lot of cocaine hanging around, the cocaine molecules can bind to your hairs and become 'entrenched' there.  It is very possible for someone to test positive in a hair test for unaltered cocaine if they had simply walked around in a room where cocaine had been recently smoked.

In a drug test, however, what is tested for are the metabolites and not the drug itself.  So if you get a drug test done where it says 'Cocaine' it is actually 'benzoylecgonine'.  Only a blood test would actually test for active cocaine in someone who is suspected of having ingested it.

[Pritzie]

jdurg,

     Ok, so on my hair test that was done, is that why I tested positive for cocaine, but negative for the metabolites of benzoylecgonine and cocaethyelene?  The administrator of the lab said he also felt that I had come in secondary contact because he said the same thing, that while my hair tested positive, the metabolites were negative which led him to believe that I had not ingested it, but came into contact through my son and his girlfriends use of it .

But again, the fact that the hair test went back 90 days showing negative for metabolites and supercedes (sp?) the urine test of 2 weeks prior should have been a clear indication that I didn't use cocaine, therefore didn't breach my contract for pain management, and still to this day they will not produce the gc/ms results which would have identified the level of "cocaine" in my body.  To me, and of course I weigh this point heavily since this is happening to me, I wonder if I really did fail the first test since they won't show me the levels that are required by the Mental Health Association.  It has to read a certain amount before it can be considered positive, for example a trace amount?  would not be considered positive.

[suseq]

Hello:

I am trying to figure out a toxicology report I have that states the following:
Cocaine: 
pleural fluid/01    Result: none detected
vitreous/03         Result: small amount (less than 0.05 ug/l)

Benzoylecgonine:
pleural fluid/01     Result: 0.06 mg/l
vitreous/03          Result: 0.18 mg/l

I am having a hard time believing that this person has used cocaine! He was however a frequent user of pot. Is it possible that this found in pot? Is his reading for benzoyl a high amount or how do you determine that?

[goomer]

Hi just wondered if someone could help.
My friend has tested positive for cocaine or crack use, this has come as a massive shock to himself and me, has hes never taken either drug, he doesn't even use legal drugs from the chemists, the only two drugs he uses are nicotine and alcohol, so my question is, he owns a pub, would it be possible to test positive from handling notes that's been used to snort with, or is it more likely that hes picked up someone else's drink which contained cocaine, my friend is getting prosecuted over this, although he is appealing against it, so any help would be much appreciated.

[DBS]

I have a question regarding Benzoylecgonine. Is it possible to test positive for Benzoylecgonine and not Cocaine?

A little more background perhaps, my partner has taken a hair test and she has tested positive for Cocaine, but when they've tested for the metabolites she's positive for Benzoylecgonine but not Cocaine. There are sections of the hair sample corresponding to approximate months.

These are the amounts and what it says:

Sample 1
                                      Amount          Method
Benzoylecgonine *      0.22ng/mg         LC-MS/MS
Cocaine *                 Not Detected        LC-MS/MS

Sample 2
                                      Amount          Method
Benzoylecgonine *      0.35ng/mg         LC-MS/MS
Cocaine *                 Not Detected        LC-MS/MS

Sample 3
                                      Amount          Method
Benzoylecgonine *      0.64ng/mg         LC-MS/MS
Cocaine *                   0.72ng/mg        LC-MS/MS

However the ELISA test has shown positive for Cocaine (I know next to nothing about these things but presumably that's due to the Benzoylecgonine).

Also, she is a former cocaine user and has admitted to regular Cocaine use in the first sample period, but not the second or third. Is it possible that her hair growth is slower due to stress perhaps?Therefore the time periods would be wrong. Or it stays in her hair longer than usual?

Extra info: She had an epidural in the third period, could that interfere with the results?
Perhaps the epidural could shed some light onto why this test is so damn important...

Thanks for your time

[peppermint]

Our son died suddenly in February. Autopsy blood tox reports show small quantities of benzoylecgonine: one lab shows 30+-4 ng/mL; another shows "<50 ng (below our reporting threshold"; one urine test shows positive for benzoylecgonine; another shows negative. None of his friends nor family was aware of any cocaine usage by him; but because of the rarity of his condition (acute esophageal necrosis) and suddenness of his death (onset to death about 24 hours), cocaine has been given as the cause of death. You have stated above that trace amounts of the metabolite could have other sources. What might these be? And would amounts in the 30 ng range be considered "trace amounts"?
If you believe he took cocaine, how many hours before death would he have ingested an average dose to give such readings?