Beating drug tests and defending positive results: a toxicologist's perspective

PUBLICAÇÕES NOVAS NEW PUBLICATIONS

TOXICOLOGY

Prof. Mauricio Yonamine

FCF/USP

DASGUPTA, A. (Ed.) Beating drug tests and defending positive results: a toxicologist´s perspective. New York: Humana Press, 2010. 152 p.

The increase in the abuse of drugs is a matter of growing concern among specialists. Drug testing is performed as a deterrent for drug abuse. In the USA, drug testing in the workplace has been an accepted practice for more than 20 years. Currently, it is estimated that more than 40 million drug tests are performed in the USA every year. Although workplace drug testing began in the USA, this procedure has been growing in all parts of the world, including Brazil. The most widely used technique for detecting drug use is that of urine analysis, which informs if an individual has consumed drugs in the days prior to sample collection. However, interest in the use of alternative specimens such as hair or oral fluid is increasing, as these specimens are not so easily adulterated, substituted or diluted. In fact, one of the main problems with drug testing is the possibility of adulteration that can invalidate analytical results or a positive test due to circumstances other than intentional drug abuse. The book "BEATING DRUG TESTING AND DEFENDING POSITIVE RESULTS", from AMITAVA DASGUPTA, discusses several aspects of workplace drug testing, forms of adulteration, their effectiveness, the detection of adulteration attempts and situations that could potentially generate positive results in toxicological analysis of drugs. The author is a practicing toxicologist involved with pre-employment drug testing in a Hospital and reports his experience in this book. The book is divided into 10 chapters. In the first three chapters the author provides an overview about the problem, the pharmacology of commonly abused drugs and analytical aspects in detecting these drugs. In the subsequent three chapters, the author discusses the main agents used to beat drug testing and their effectiveness. The last four chapters were reserved for comments on the main situations alleged by individuals to defend their positive results. At the end of each chapter, an extensive number of references are provided so that readers can get more information about a specific topic that interests them. Undoubtedly, this book is an excellent reference for toxicologists, pathologists, human resources professionals, analysts, students and anyone interested in workplace drug testing.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  10 Feb 2011
• Date of issue
  Dec 2010