The increasing use of marijuana poses increased exposure to marijuana smoke and the potential for public health concerns. In the last decades, a number of efforts have been made to develop methodologies to assess marijuana exposure, including developing analytical methods to monitor marijuana-specific biomarkers in biological matrices, i.e. Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), and two THC metabolites: 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC (COOH-THC) and 11-hydroxy- THC (OH-THC). Given the relatively high exposure levels resulted from active marijuana smoking, literature methods with high detection limits (LODs) meet the needs accordingly for desired detection rates. Nevertheless, persons smoking marijuana could also cause passive exposure of other people through inhalation of SHMS, which is often characterized by low biomarker levels although collectively depending on factors including environmental circumstances, smoker density, and exposure duration. While most studies have focused on active use of marijuana, information on SHMS, including exposure characteristics and adverse health consequences, is still limited in the open literature. This study presents sensitive analytical methods using ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry for quantifying THC, CBD, CBN, COOH-THC and OH-THC in human urine, milk and plasma. The LODs achieved in these methods were approximately 10 – 100 times more sensitive than previous studies, which are crucial for monitoring and assessing SHMS exposure. This study also discusses the potential use of these methods in future studies for assessing SHMS exposure in children and adults.

Assessing secondhand marijuana smoke using biological markers

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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