Methamphetamine has been found in surface waters, wastewaters and sewers. In wastewater, because there is no known way to distinguish between methamphetamine discarded from clandestine laboratories and methamphetamine excreted in the urine of drug users, finding precursors used in methamphetamine production can provide that distinction. The ability to pinpoint the presence of clandestine laboratories may be used in the future as an environmental or forensic tool. This research focused on the detection of methamphetamine precursors, specifically ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, in city-owned sewer lines. Passive samples were obtained by deploying Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler (POCIS) disks into city sewer lines for a period of two weeks in areas of the city suspected to house clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. POCIS disks were filtered, extracted, and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The results of this research will be discussed.

Detection of precursors to methamphetamine in city sewers lines

249th National Meeting (2015)

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