A Simple Gas Chromatographic Method for Routine Delta D1-Tetrahydrocannabinol Analyses of Blood and Brain

A rapid, sensitive, and specific method is presented for the quantification of Delta *D1-tetrahydrocannabinol in 1 ml of whole blood or in 0.5 g of brain tissue. The method is particularly suitable for routine toxicological analyses of large numbers of blood samples and may be done with most gas chromatographs equipped with alkali thermionic or alkali flame ionization detectors. The cannabinoids are detected as their diethyl phosphate esters, and detection limits are approximately 0.5 ng/ml of blood and 10 ng/g of brain.