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Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana

THIS DISSERTATION IS PRESENTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF M. Phil IN FORENSIC SCIENCE

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Main Author: Kwabena Asiedu Adaakwa
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: KNUST 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Kwabena Asiedu Adaakwa
author_browse Kwabena Asiedu Adaakwa
author_facet Kwabena Asiedu Adaakwa
author_sort Kwabena Asiedu Adaakwa
collection Thesis
description THIS DISSERTATION IS PRESENTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF M. Phil IN FORENSIC SCIENCE
format Thesis
id oai:ir.knust.edu.gh:123456789/16656
institution KNUST (Ghana)
language English
last_indexed 2026-07-01T04:01:16.394Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from KNUSTSpace — Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (Ghana)
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher KNUST
publisherStr KNUST
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source_str KNUSTSpace — Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (Ghana)
spelling oai:ir.knust.edu.gh:123456789/16656 Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana Kwabena Asiedu Adaakwa THIS DISSERTATION IS PRESENTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF M. Phil IN FORENSIC SCIENCE There is no report on the purity of cocaine and its adulterants in white powder seized as cocaine in Ghana. This leaves a big gap on data for hazard analysis such as causes of acute cocaine toxicity, overdoses, and fatal reactions. The main goal of the study was to determine the quality of cocaine seized in Ghana by detecting and quantifying the presence of adulterants in seized cocaine samples and also quantify the actual amounts of cocaine in these samples. This work analyzed 45 cocaine samples seized in Ghana in the year 2010, 2013 and 2014. The suspected cocaine samples were analyzed at the forensic laboratory of the Ghana Standards Authority using gas-chromatography / mass spectrometry. The average cocaine content determined were 9.60 mg/g, 9.44mg/g and 7.43mg/g for 2010, 2013 and 2014 respectively. The purity levels were 81.72 ± 4.96, 80.38 ± 12.23 and 63.25 ± 20.23. Analysis of variance for the cocaine purity for 2010, 2013 and 2014 at the time of arrest showed a statistically significant difference (P-value 0.0129).With differences arising from samples arrested in 2010 and those in 2014. On the contrary, analysis of variance of cocaine purity for the various years after storage time showed no statistically significant difference (P-value 0.9337). This is testament to the effects of storage conditions on the integrity of the cocaine samples. Adulterants detected were Lidocaine and Caffeine with mean concentrations of 4.30667 x 10-05 and 0.147064 respectively. None of the samples tested positive for the presence of the adulterant Procaine. There was no significant relationship between the presence of adulterants and the cocaine content. Based on these adulterant findings, measures should be put in place to screen illicit drugs for the presence of these adulterants on arrest. KNUST 2025-05-06T12:36:36Z 2025-05-06T12:36:36Z 2018-06 Thesis https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/16656 en application/pdf KNUST
spellingShingle Kwabena Asiedu Adaakwa
Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana
title Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana
title_full Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana
title_fullStr Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana
title_short Purity And Adulterant Analysis Of Cocaine Seized In Ghana
title_sort purity and adulterant analysis of cocaine seized in ghana
url https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/16656
work_keys_str_mv AT kwabenaasieduadaakwa purityandadulterantanalysisofcocaineseizedinghana