DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38999
title: Prevalence of Fentanyl and Its Analogues in a Court-Ordered Mandatory Drug Testing Population, United States, 2016-2022
title: Archival Version

description: The goal of the project was to provide timely, evidence-based intelligence on growing rates of drug use and patterns of use of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds in a criminal justice population. Phase I of the study used liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to determine the prevalence of fentanyl and a subset of fentanyl-related compounds in 520 hair specimens submitted for court-ordered mandatory drug testing (COMDT). Phase I sought to answer the question:

Is testing for fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds, in addition to heroin and prescription opioids, needed in the COMDT population?

Phase II analyzed five years of historic COMDT data, including hair and oral fluid samples and sought to address three research questions:

Do oral fluid and hair provide a more sensitive tool for identifying individuals who are using drugs to provide improved public protection, deterrence, and rehabilitation?
How do drug patterns in a COMDT population compare to general workforce drug testing results?
How do drug patterns in a COMDT population change with inclusion of fentanyl and its analogs in the testing?
description: In Phase I, researchers at RTI International (RTI) developed a method to analyze fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds in hair. RTI used this method to analyze 520 hair specimens collected for court-ordered mandatory drug testing (COMDT), which were provided by a commercial toxicology laboratory. All hair specimens were collected between November 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. Hair specimens were decontaminated, cut, placed into glass tubes, and further cleaned before conducting liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Specimens which tested positive for fentanyl or fentanyl-related compounds were further analyzed using a LC-quadruple-Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer.
In Phase II, researchers received five years of COMDT test results for hair and oral fluid covering February 1, 2016 to February 28, 2022 from a commercial toxicology laboratory. Oral fluid data consisted of screening results for all specimens tested during that time period, and confirmation results for the selected specimens that underwent confirmation testing. Not all oral fluid specimens that screened positive were sent to confirmation due to differing program requirements and administrative reasons. Hair data consisted of confirmation results for all hair specimens, as the testing protocol was to send all specimens directly to confirmation testing without a screening step. The routine confirmation testing panel for hair included amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cocaine, opiates, PCP, and THC; the routine confirmation testing panel for oral fluid contained all of the hair analytes as well as buprenorphine, fentanyl, methadone, pregabalin, tapentadol, and tramadol. Test results were additionally identified by the court-ordered drug testing program in which the individual was enrolled. Based on this data, records were combined into three program types: Problem-Solving Courts (e.g., "Co-Occurring Court," "DWI Court," "Juvenile Court," "Veteran's Court") , Family Court, and Probation/Parole/Pretrial.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Hair Dataset
DS2: Oral Fluid Dataset
description: Individuals undergoing COMDT from 2016 to 2022. Smallest Geographic Unit: city