U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Fast and Portable Drug Testing: Dual-Method Prototype Shows Promise for Court-Admissible Drug Testing

NCJ Number
300066
Date Published
March 2021
Annotation

This resource presents the development of a portable dual-method testing platform that could allow law enforcement officers to rapidly analyze seized drugs and generate on site court-admissible evidence.

Abstract

An NIJ-supported research team from Illinois State University developed a portable dual-method testing platform that could allow law enforcement officers to rapidly analyze seized drugs and generate court-admissible evidence on site. The platform consists of a Raman spectroscopy module combined with a commercially available mass spectrometry device. Both detection methods are highly selective, require little to no sample preparation, and are easy to administer. In a blind test of 500 samples, a prototype of the platform produced 99.8% accurate results. The Illinois State researchers say the dual-method platform could help reduce forensic laboratory backlogs and are investigating commercialization opportunities.

Date Published: March 1, 2021