A group of researchers from England have discovered a new and simple way to test drug use. The University of Surrey researchers have announced that through fingerprinting, they can detect who has and has not consumed cocaine, a very popular class A drug.
As a matter of fact, the test could also determine those people who just touched the drug and those who actually used it. Dr. Melanie Bailey, one of the lead researchers told Activebeat, "When someone has taken cocaine, they excrete traces of benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine as they metabolise the drug, and these chemical indicators are present in fingerprint residue."
The study, published in the journal Analyst, may provide the way for simpler drug testing that does not require extraction of blood or collection of urine. To land to their findings, the researchers analyzed the fingerprints of patients in a drug treatment center using the process called mass spectrometry, reports Time Magazine.
How is this possible? When a person uses cocaine, they excrete components of the metabolized version of it. Hence, the researchers were able to make a test that can detect the components of cocaine in the fingerprints on glass through a process called chemical analysis technique.
The researchers wrote, "These results provide exciting opportunities for the use of fingerprints as a new sampling medium for secure, non-invasive drug detection."
Meanwhile, Chemistry World reports that the test was based on the principle of surface mass spectrometry wherein it desorbs molecules from the fingerprints and it can determine cocaine only especially its two metabolites. Thus, it can show whether the drug has been ingested rather than touched.
Bailey added, "It's also very difficult to falsify and could help with the sample's chain of custody because the subject's identity is embedded in the ridge detail of the fingerprint."
