Browsing by Author "Adaakwa, Kwabena Asiedu"

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    Purity and adulterant analysis of cocaine seized in Ghana
    (June, 2018) Adaakwa, Kwabena Asiedu
    There is no report on the purity of cocaine and its adulterants in white powder seized as cocaine in Ghana. This leaves a big gap on data for hazard analysis such as causes of acute cocaine toxicity, overdoses, and fatal reactions. The main goal of the study was to determine the quality of cocaine seized in Ghana by detecting and quantifying the presence of adulterants in seized cocaine samples and also quantify the actual amounts of cocaine in these samples. This work analyzed 45 cocaine samples seized in Ghana in the year 2010, 2013 and 2014. The suspected cocaine samples were analyzed at the forensic laboratory of the Ghana Standards Authority using gas-chromatography / mass spectrometry. The average cocaine content determined were 9.60 mg/g, 9.44mg/g and 7.43mg/g for 2010, 2013 and 2014 respectively. The purity levels were 81.72 ± 4.96, 80.38 ± 12.23 and 63.25 ± 20.23. Analysis of variance for the cocaine purity for 2010, 2013 and 2014 at the time of arrest showed a statistically significant difference (P-value 0.0129).With differences arising from samples arrested in 2010 and those in 2014. On the contrary, analysis of variance of cocaine purity for the various years after storage time showed no statistically significant difference (P-value 0.9337). This is testament to the effects of storage conditions on the integrity of the cocaine samples. Adulterants detected were Lidocaine and Caffeine with mean concentrations of 4.30667 x 10-05 and 0.147064 respectively. None of the samples tested positive for the presence of the adulterant Procaine. There was no significant relationship between the presence of adulterants and the cocaine content. Based on these adulterant findings, measures should be put in place to screen illicit drugs for the presence of these adulterants on arrest.