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In France, workplace testing of drugs of abuse and psychotropic drugs is rarely performed; meanwhile it is a major public health problem. Furthermore, France is the European country that has been associated with the highest increase of the use of drugs of abuse, particularly cannabis. So workplace biological screening of drugs of abuse and of psychotropic drugs exposure is of major concern. New analytical techniques have been developed during the last years. The authors will consider analytical screening of drugs of abuse and particularly the comparison of analytical techniques applied to urine and saliva. The advantages and the disadvantages of these two matrices will be considered. Urinary and blood quantification will be reviewed, but also the interest of hair testing to explore chronic exposure. The research of psychotropic drugs in biological fluids is also a part of this paper. New analytical trends are promising and complete analysis of these substances will be soon routinely possible in blood using a single spot test., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Lots of similar vulnerabilities to substance use disorders are described in the literature: clinical, genetics, family, environment, etc. Although, when we follow up patients, we know perfectly well that there are also differences due to the substance mainly causing addiction. But we found very little research on the differences between various substance use disorders according to the substance mainly causing dependence., Hypothesis: Our main hypothesis was that significant differences do not exist in medical and social data between patients with substance use disorders according to the substance mainly used. We expected to find significant differences between illegal substance use disorders (opiates, cocaine, cannabis) and legal substance use disorders (BZD, alcohol)., Objective: Our study aimed to identify differences between patients with substance related disorders in medical and social data according to the main addictive substance., Material and Method: A specific software has been created by the CEIP and the Department of Addictology of Nantes University Hospital. Anonymous data were gathered and all patients gave their written consent. This database has been declared to CNIL (number 1350706). All data have been directly collected by the physician during medical consultation. The following data were recorded during the first medical examination: age, sex, illicit substance use, prior criminal record or psychiatric disorders, prior addictive behaviours among relatives and/or friends, family history (divorce, separation, abandonment). Other data were gathered prospectively: socioprofessional insertion, marital status, drug prescriptions (time and duration)., Results: We found significant differences in social (age, sex) and medical data (prior psychiatric disorders) between patients according to the substance causing dependence. We identified five profiles depending on the substance: cannabis, cocaine, heroin, alcohol and benzodiazepine., Discussion: We clearly identified different types of patient's profiles according to substances mainly causing addiction. These differences can modify our strategies of prevention and treatment, so as to meet patients' needs better., (Copyright © 2010 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Cocaine has become a noticeable part of the European drug scene and is the second most commonly used illicit drug among the general population. Craving is a core issue in cocaine dependence and is strongly associated with lapse and/or relapse. However, no craving scale exists in French. The objective of our study was to assess the reliability and validity of a French language version of the 10-item Cocaine Craving Questionnaire-Brief (CCQ-Brief)., Methods: A total of 131 individuals ranging in age from 18 to 65 years were enrolled in a 12-month outpatient treatment program in 2009. The participants were seeking treatment for cocaine dependence. They completed the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and the French version of the CCQ-Brief. At the end of the interview, a Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGIS) was completed by a clinician blind to the subject's treatment group. We evaluated the internal consistency of the French CCQ-Brief using Cronbach's α coefficient and the correlation of each item with the total scale using the Pearson's coefficient. We conducted an exploratory factorial analysis followed by a scree test. Only items with factor loading >0.3 were retained. The convergent validity of the French CCQ-Brief was assessed using Pearson's correlation between the CCQ-Brief and the CGIS., Results: The mean (SD) score of the 10-item CCQ-Brief was 3.4 (1.5). Cronbach's α coefficient 0.88 and remained high even when an item was deleted (ranging from 0.86 to 0.88), indicating that this tool possesses a high internal consistency. Each item exhibited a strong correlation with the total score ranging from 0.62 to 0.83. All items presented factor loadings ranged from 0.47 to 0.83. The correlation between the CCQ-Brief and the CGIS was high (r=0.49, p<0.0001), indicating a sufficient convergent validity., Discussion: The French version of the CCQ-Brief is a reliable and valid instrument that can provide a comprehensive assessment of cocaine craving in treatment-seeking cocaine-dependent patients.