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Hair analysis is becoming more common in forensics, especially in cases where investigators want to know if drugs facilitated a crime, if a child was exposed in utero, or if someone, say, an athlete or employee, needs to be tested for long-term drug use. But current tests make it difficult to determine actual drug consumption. Some drugs can get incorporated into the structure of hair from the bloodstream, while others, such as cocaine, nicotine, and cannabis, can also contaminate hair from the outside.
Washing the hair sample before analyzing it for drugs has become a standard procedure in an effort to remove external contaminants, although the methods vary and there is the risk that the procedure could actually incorporate contaminants into the hair. In a newly developed technique, published in February in Analytical Chemistry, researchers report being able to completely decontaminate both the outside and internal structure ...
