ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the analysis of drugs in biological fluids. It is, apparently, an important subject; anyone who takes even a passing interest in literature on the subject is aware of the torrent of papers that are published each year. The monitoring of drugs in cases of overdose is one of the oldest areas of drug measurement in clinical medicine. Drug testing has become a new feature of the workplace in the last decade, particularly in the United States, where testing laboratories are part of a $600 million business. Drug abusers, the argument goes, are more likely to need time off for illnesses, more likely to require greater healthcare coverage, and more likely to be less efficient, or more dangerous in their jobs, because of their drug habits. The use of drugs in sport is a topic almost as contentious as politics in sport.
