National Institute of Forensic Sciences, Vilvoordsesteenweg 100, 1120 Brussel, Belgium

During police actions focused on the control of the possession of illicit drugs, subjects were selected by police staff based on external signs of drug intake and questionnaires. The subject was then examined by a member of the medical staff. A urine sample was screened with Frontline for one or more of the drug classes. DW was applied on the tongue and on the neck or the back. If one of the three assays (urine, saliva, sweat) showed a positive result, a blood sample and a saliva sample were collected. The principal drugs of abuse and their metabolites were quantified in the body fluids with GC/MS after SPE and derivatization. The results are presented in the following table:

	cocaine (6 subjects)	heroin (5 subjects)	amph (speed, XTC) (15 subjects)	cannabinoids (15 subjects)
Saliva + (DW)	5	3	15	4
Saliva + (GC/MS) conc. range	6 22 - 3,500 ng/ml cocaine	5 156 - 3,080 ng/ml MAM	15 5 - 3,000 ng/ml amph, MDMA, MDEA, MBDB	10 1.4 - 42 ng/ml THC
Urine +/ number of urine samples	4/4	3/3	12/12	9/11

Saliva is a useful tool to detect illicit drugs after recent abuse. Drugwipe provides satisfactory results for cocaine and amphetamines but lacks sensitivity for heroin and cannabinoids.