Xylazine Emergence: Screening and Confirmation of an Extract from a Counterfeit M-30 Pill

Xylazine is a non-opioid sedative, analgesic and muscle relaxant which is used in veterinary medicine and not approved for human use.

Recently there has been an increase in the number of reports of Xylazine being abused in combination with other drugs of abuse, specifically fentanyl. 

Moreover, criminal drug networks are mass-producing fake pills and falsely marketing them as prescription pills. 

It is important to be able to accurately screen these materials for commonly abused and emerging drugs and confirm the identity of the materials found. 

• The first part of the webinar will describe two different techniques that can be used for screening and confirmatory analysis of a counterfeit M-30 pill; one using direct ionization MS, and the other using high resolution ToF.

• The second portion of the webinar will describe an alternative comprehensive confirmatory method using triple quadruple mass spectrometry to quantify each compound found in the pill.

Presenter: Emily Lee (Application Scientist, Forensics, Research & Development, Waters Corporation)

Emily Lee is an Application Scientist at Waters Corporation. Emily is part of a global team dedicated to the development of applications and analytical solutions for Forensics and Toxicology. Emily has gained experience in the use of various Waters mass spectrometry technologies for the analysis of forensic and toxicologically relevant analytes. Prior to working at Waters, Emily has experience working in forensic toxicology laboratories, with high sample turnover and fast turnaround times. Emily was involved in many aspects of day-to-day laboratory operations including sample extraction, analysis, method development and validation, analytical troubleshooting, and reporting. Emily also gained a MSc in Forensic Science (Toxicology) at the University of Huddersfield.

Presenter: Jane A. Cooper (Principal Application Scientist, Forensics, Research & Development, Waters Corporation)

Principal Application Scientist in the Forensic Toxicology section at Waters Corporation, experienced in the generation of technical marketing material to support Waters Field Marketing and Sales activities. Involved in both the preparation and delivery of presentation, illustrating developed applications using Waters technologies at seminars and conferences. Experienced in the use of Waters chromatographic and mass spectrometry technologies, associated data handling, and reporting software.