Forensic Drug Testing by Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Hair

The detection and quantitative measurement of drugs in the hair of human subjects, first reported in 1979, ¹ has proven to be a powerful clinical and forensic tool for the investigation of the use or abuse of licit and illicit drugs. One important feature of hair analysis is its long-term information on an individual’s drug use in contrast to the short-term information provided by urinalysis. ² Head hair grows at approximately 1.3 cm/month. Consequently, by sampling the segment of hair corresponding to a particular time frame, hair analysis can uncover drug use from a week to years prior to collection of the specimen.