Intended for healthcare professionals

Papers

A new method to monitor drugs at dance venues

BMJ 2001; 323 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7313.603 (Published 15 September 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:603
  1. John D Ramsey, head, toxicology unita,
  2. Marcus A Butcher, toxicology service managera,
  3. Martin F Murphy, studentb,
  4. Terry Lee, senior clinical scientista,
  5. Atholl Johnston, head, laboratory servicesc,
  6. David W Holt, director, analytical unit (d.holt@sghms.ac.uk)a
  1. a St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE
  2. b King's College, London SE1 8WA
  3. c St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London EC1M 6BQ
  1. Correspondence to: D W Holt
  • Accepted 11 July 2001

Information on the use of illicit drugs depends heavily on users' recall—what they remember, or think, that they have purchased—and on seizures by law enforcement agencies. Neither method may be able to give accurate information on what is currently available.1 We have developed a new method designed to gain information on current drug consumption in a London dance venue.

Methods and results

We analysed solid dose formulations retrieved from an amnesty bin at a London dance venue, into which visitors were required to discard illicit drugs and into which security staff place substances found during searches. We obtained a Home Office licence to analyse the contents of the bin, which were removed in the presence of a police officer and sealed in evidence bags. The data reported are for one year up to February 1999.

The 299 items, which ranged from single tablets to bags containing several, comprised 156 tablets and …

View Full Text