Pregabalin Qualitative Detection in Turkish Forensic Cases Between 2017 to 2018

ABSTRACT

Pregabalin (PGB) has been commonly subjected to diversion, from being a prescription drug to a recreational drug. In this study, pregabalin use (which is one of the substances subject to control in Turkey) and the concomitant use of other substances in cases admitted to the Izmir Forensic Medicine Institute was evaluated. Samples from 15,259 cases were screened, between June 2017 and December 2018, for the presence of PGB, and PGB positive cases were further analyzed. Of all cases screened, PGB was detected in 3.2% (n = 487). The mean age of PGB positive cases was 29.24 ± 10.34 years old (min: 14, max: 84), and 94% of them were male. Cannabis metabolite THC-COOH was the most common substance detected in the blood samples following PGB. Overall, 8 other substances were commonly used along with PGB. These substances were cannabis, morphine, hydromorphone, codeine, hydrocodone, heroin, paracetamol, and naproxen. Finally, we observed similar results in urine analysis. This research provides systematic data for PGB use in forensic cases in Turkey. The study findings indicate that PGB and multiple drug use increased over time, and providers should be particularly careful when prescribing PGB.

KEYWORDS:

• Pregabalin
• forensic toxicology
• prescription drug abuse
• LC-MS/MS

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Melike AYDOGDU for her support during study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Green prescription in Turkey refers to the type of prescription provided for potentially additive drugs.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.