Development and Implementation of a Paper Analytical Device for Field Drug Detection

Tracy-Lynn E. Lockwood
2021
Tracy-Lynn E. Lockwood The overdose epidemic remains one of the most pressing public health issues in the United States. The epidemic started with the increased availability of prescription opioids. Later, when access to prescription opioids was limited by prescribers due to an increase of dependency, many people turned to illicit heroin use. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl, which has a potency 50 to 100 times greater than morphine, was then introduced into the heroin supply causing another
more » ... e in overdose deaths. As drug overdose deaths across the United States continue to rise, and the overdose epidemic was declared a national emergency, there is increasing interest in field testing of illicit substances for law enforcement and harm reduction stakeholders. Street drugs consist of unregulated and highly variable mixtures of illicit drugs and cutting agents, including diluents and adulterants, making them difficult to evaluate under field conditions. Tools most commonly used for field drug analysis include presumptive drug test pouches containing concentrated liquid reagents, immunoassay-based test strips, liquid dropper reagents, portable Fourier transform infrared spectrometers and mass spectrometers. While Appendix B: idPAD Analysis of Fabricated Illicit Drug Mixtures: Additional Data ......197 B.1 Blinded Study idPAD Image Set .
doi:10.7274/5t34sj1698d fatcat:xbsew3ehqzcphgdttvymp4umly