Concateno plc - global drug testing services

 

Legal Case Studies

Our hair tests have been used to detect parental drug use in thousands of family law and child protection cases over the last 15 years.

Elizabeth Hicks, Partner and Head of Family Law at Irwin Mitchell Solicitors based in London, has provided the below video case study.

 

The following historical case studies are from our legal archive and have no connection to any current or recent casework.

Proof of successful treatment for heroin addiction in a custody case
Testing to determine if a parent has a drug problem
Testing to determine the drug use of a pregnant mother
Father suggests positive test result is due to passive smoking
Does the donor take ecstasy regularly?
Has the donor taken drugs recently?

Proof of successful treatment for heroin addiction in a custody case

A mother sought to regain custody of her child. With a history of drug misuse, in particular heroin addiction, she declared that following treatment she had stopped using heroin and had been following a prescribed methadone maintenance programme for over a year. The child's guardian requested a hair test. Our laboratory was instructed to carry out a test for a panel of the 9 most commonly used drugs. Our collector met the mother at her lawyer’s office and cut a small lock of hair from her head. Hair grows approximately 1cm a month, so as the mother had hair over 12 centimeters long, sample analysis could provide a profile of drug use or abstinence over approximately a 12 month period. The results were positive for methadone but negative for all other drugs, supporting the mother's self-reports. This not only proved to the court that she was following her treatment programme, but also to her family, friends and children. Proving drug abstinence can play an important part of any child protection case, and in this mother’s situation it helped her in regaining access to her children and making the possibility of custody achievable.

Testing to determine if a parent has a drug problem

A father in the process of divorce and seeking a child residence order was accused of regular cannabis and ecstasy abuse. He denied this and declared he had only taken ecstasy once 3 months ago at a nightclub. The Magistrate requested a hair test. The donor provided a sample 3cm in length, which we then separated into 3 one centimeter sections. Each section was tested separately, providing an approximate month-by-month profile of drug use over a 3 month period. Ecstasy was detected in significant amounts in each section, consistent with the profile of a regular ecstasy user, together with amphetamine (speed) and cannabis.

Testing to determine the drug use of a pregnant mother

A court ordered that a mother’s hair would be tested to determine her level of cocaine usage before and after she discovered that she was pregnant. An 18 centimeter sample of the mother’s hair was analysed by our laboratory, long enough to provide a profile of approximately 18 months. We cut the sample into 6 sections, each 3 centimeters long and representing approximately 3 month periods over the last one and a half years retrospectively. The results indicated that historically the mother had been taking cocaine at a consistent level. Not only did we detect cocaine, but we also detected its metabolite benzoylecgonine, a specific cocaine marker which is produced by the body when cocaine is ingested.

In the 3 month time period analysed after the mother discovered her pregnancy, the level of cocaine and benzoylecgonine declined to a low level, indicating that her usage had dropped and may have stopped. If the most recent 3 months section was cut into 1 centimeter sections, each representing 1 month, it would have been possible to verify whether the mother had stopped using cocaine completely. This testing not only provided evidence to help ascertain the unborn child’s safety during pregnancy, but also to get a picture of the level of drug use which may be occurring in the home environment where the child will reside.

Father suggests positive test result is due to passive smoking

A mother expressed concerns for her 13 year old son’s welfare due to her suspicions that her ex-partner was allowing their son to smoke cannabis whilst in his care. The court ordered that both the father and the son have a hair strand test for cannabis over the past 3 months. Both samples provided a positive result for cannabis and its associated metabolites. When confronted with the results, the father denied allowing his son to smoke cannabis but admitted smoking the drug in the presence of his son, and claimed that the cannabis found in his son’s hair could have come from passive smoking.

The evidence provided in our Expert Witness Report stated that the level of cannabis in the child’s hair was indicative of actual consumption rather than environmental contamination, such as passive smoking. We apply a number of techniques to avoid positive results triggered by peoples exposure to passive smoke or environmental contamination. Hair samples are washed prior to extraction to remove any traces of drug on the surface of the hair. This means that any drug that is detected has come from inside the hair stand and thus ingestion. We also look for the presence of metabolites, which are substances only produced by the body when a drug is actually ingested. It is possible that a small amount of drug can be deposited in the body of a non-drug user, but this amount is generally below the cut off level applied to our methods and would be reported as not detected.

Does the donor take ecstasy regularly?

We received an instruction to analyse an individual’s hair for the presence of speed and ecstasy over a one month period as part of a child protection case. Ecstasy (MDMA) and its metabolite MDA (a substance produced by the body when a drug is taken) were detected in the monthly section, but so was methamphetamine (crystal meth), an addictive drug that can have serious implications for an individual’s health. The presence of crystal meth and ecstasy caused concern for the child’s welfare and we were asked to analyse the sample further, to get an indication of the regularity of drug use. There was sufficient sample length to additionally analyse the previous two months’ sections. Ecstasy and its metabolite were detected in each of the 3 monthly sections indicating regular use over the 3 month period; crystal meth was only detected in the first month, indicative of more recent use. Samples can be retained by our laboratory in the event that further analysis is required. Providing there is sufficient sample, the hair can be analysed to get a more historic profile of drug use, months or even years after the sample was collected.

Has the donor taken drugs recently?

An allegation of drug use during childcare proceedings instigated the need for a hair strand drugs test. The child’s mother admitted to using cocaine and cannabis historically but had recently abstained from use. The mother’s current partner was also ordered to provide a sample for analysis. Both were tested for a panel of 9 drugs. The mother had long enough head hair to profile 9 months historically; however, her partner could only provide a body hair sample. The results supported her claim, showing that cocaine and cannabis had been used over 6 months ago, and that nothing else had been taken since. Her partner showed evidence of cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy use. However as this was a body hair sample, the time period that this covered was approximate and it was unable to confirm whether the drugs detected came from historical or more recent use. It was ordered that both the mother and her partner should undergo continuous monthly hair strand testing over the next 6 months, to show that both have completely abstained from using drugs.

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