Dec. 19 – The laboratory for traditional illegal drugs and new psychoactive substances of the Department of Drugs, within the Medication, Drug Addiction and Doping Center, of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) ranks among the first in the world. Of the 72 laboratories for drug analysis involved in the monitoring conducted by the UNODC – International Collaborative Exercise, based in Vienna, the Italian ISS laboratory is the first analysis of cocaine, metabolite benzoylecgonine and cannabinoids in urine. It ranked fourth in the analysis of opiates (morphine, codeine and 6-monoacetylmorphine) in the urine matrix. The ISS laboratory was also able to identify new psychoactive substances (whose identification in biological consumer matrices is particularly difficult), such as phenylethylamine 2CB, and to detect ketamine where present. “This assessment further motivates us and drives us to continue with undiminished commitment and rigor in our mission and strategy,” said Roberta Pacifici, director of the Department of Medication of the ISS.
