Pubdate: Sun, 13 May 2007
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
Copyright: 2007 The Cincinnati Enquirer
Contact: http://enquirer.com/editor/letters.html
Website: http://enquirer.com/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/86
Author: Mike Rutledge
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

GOOD OR BAD METH?

COVINGTON - A small tech firm in Covington has developed a way to 
tell whether people who take drug tests have been using the "bad" 
methamphetamine - the illegal street drug - or its chemical 
half-sister, "good" meth, which is a common ingredient in 
over-the-counter cold relief products.

ASAP Analytical in November bought the rights to build computerized 
systems that separate materials into their basic molecular structures 
and then use infrared light to analyze the unique "fingerprint" of 
every chemical in a material.

Had the test been developed years earlier, it might have helped 
British skier Alain Baxter show beyond doubt after the 2002 Salt Lake 
City Winter Olympics that he had used the Vicks inhaler. Baxter, 
known as "the Highlander," was stripped of his bronze medal in slalom skiing.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport several months later cleared 
Baxter of suspicion he had intended to cheat by using the Vicks 
inhaler. But his Olympic medal was not reinstated.

Baxter participated in the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and still competes.

Today, law-enforcement agencies can use ASAP's combination of gas 
chromatography and infrared spectroscopy to determine what form of 
methamphetamine someone on parole or probation has used.

"It actually shows up different in two parts of the (infrared) 
spectrum, so now you can differentiate between 'd' (dextro-) and 'l' 
(levo-) forms of methamphetamine," said Lewis Smith, a forensic 
scientist with the New Jersey State Police South Regional Laboratory. 
"And that is really good."

Smith and other law-enforcement scientists said the test could be 
useful in cases of driving under the influence of drugs, or in cases 
where people on probation test positive for having methamphetamines 
in their bodies.

"What is nice about this is it gives us the ability to actually 
differentiate between 'd' and 'l,' and it would be interesting to try 
this derivative on other (illegal) compounds," Smith said.

"Here's a tool out here that can help fight crime, it can help in the 
biodiesel or fuel markets to develop new gasolines or things of that 
nature," said ASAP President Don Harris. "It can also help us develop 
new drugs. It's very big in the field of (developing) flavors."

His company bought the product line from Varian Inc. of Palo Alto, 
Calif. Four companies, including Hewlett-Packard, owned the 
underlying technologies before, but never maximized its potential, Harris said.

ASAP's former technical support manager, Charles "Chuck" Johnson, 
developed the method for differentiating between "good" and "bad" meth.

Chemists often use mass spectrometers to differentiate between 
substances, Harris said, "but there's a lot of things that weigh the 
same, and this is a way to differentiate things that weigh the same."

"If this became an issue, the methamphetamine, there's no way you 
could tell the difference with a mass spectrometer," Smith said. 
"It's impossible. They give you identical patterns."

Procter & Gamble emphasized the form of methamphetamine it uses 
cannot be converted into the illegal form. Law-enforcement scientists agreed.

"The isomer that is in our product is the one that cannot be made 
into meth," said Suzette Middleton, a P&G spokeswoman.

"It's always good to be able to have some test to be able to 
distinguish one from the other," Middleton said. "The good news here 
is, like I said, the form that we have in our products just can't be 
turned into meth."

Smith agreed: "If someone were taking Vicks inhalers and breaking 
them open and cutting it on the street, I don't think they'd have too 
many customers much longer because ... it wouldn't have the same effect."

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said 
via e-mail the removal of Baxter's medal would not be reconsidered.

"Both forms of methamphetamine were on the list of prohibited 
substances in force in 2002," Moreau said. "There is therefore no 
ground to review the decision made at that time."

Baxter did not return requests for an interview. Andrew Mitchell, who 
works for Baxter, speculated the skier may simply want to put the 
situation behind him.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman