Phencyclidine in umbilical cord blood: preliminary data

The epidemic abuse of phencyclidine (PCP) has become a major psychiatric issue within the past decade. With the assistance of highly sensitive capillary gas chromatographic-nitrogen detector measurements, PCP's true pervasiveness is only now being appreciated. To further quantitate the severity of the problem, the authors analyzed samples of umbilical cord blood from 200 patients on the obstetrics service of a major university medical center. Preliminary results revealed that 24 (12%) of the samples were positive for PCP (.10-5.80 ng/ml). The authors discuss the significance of this finding with regard to psychiatry, obstetrics, pediatrics, and juvenile law.