New Laser Drug Tests

I love writing about new technological advances in the world and today the chemical dependency counseling community is seeing something great. 

"QUINCY, Mass.—The small box that Detective Lt. Patrick Glynn holds in his hand looks like a game console, but within seconds, it's clear he's using the device for more serious business.

The device uses a low-power laser to scan small bags of drugs and gives police near-instant identification. Quincy police who have been testing the new device say it saves them time and money and could eventually help them more quickly dispose of the hundreds of drug cases they handle each year.

The device, developed by Waltham-based Thermo Fisher Scientific, is being rolled out Wednesday for sale to police departments. The company has been testing the Thermo Scientific TruNarc with police departments around the country, including Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

In Quincy, where police have been using the device for about six months, drug detectives say it makes identifying drugs easier, less dangerous and less expensive.

"It's a much simpler process," Glynn said. "It eliminates the need for multiple tests."

Traditionally, police do field testing to identify drugs using chemical test kits. The substance is put into a plastic pouch containing vials of chemicals. Then, the officer breaks the vials inside the pouch, shakes the pouch and the substance turns a certain color. For example, cocaine comes back blue.

Each substance has a specific testing kit, so officers sometimes have to use three or four kits before they get a positive reading on the substance they are testing. That kind of testing also requires officers to handle the drugs and leaves room for accidental spills and exposure to the substances.

The kits are used for presumptive testing only, in the initial stages of an arrest. Samples are then sent to a state laboratory for confirmatory tests, which can take weeks or months, causing long delays in prosecuting the cases in court, Glynn said.

The new device uses the same scientific technique used in the laboratory but allows officers to use it in the field at the time of arrest, said Maura Fitzpatrick, senior director of safety and security for Thermo Scientific portable optical analyzers. The technique, called Raman spectroscopy, captures the difference in each chemical compound's vibrational frequencies to differentiate between compounds.

Handheld Raman instruments, called spectrometers, have been used for field identification of explosives and hazardous chemicals. The TruNarc uses the same technique to identify numerous narcotics with a single test, Fitzpatrick said. To use the device, the officer presses the sample bag against the nose cone, then presses a scan button. A low-power laser shines on the sample, and the light reflects back into the device. The light spectrum is collected and compared to a library within the instrument, which then produces a match.

"It's really a simple point and shoot. You hold it up to the sample, it does a quick analysis and then it gives you a result," Fitzpatrick said.

Police departments who have tested the device say it is simple, easy to use and offers a single test on substances that may take multiple tests with chemical kits.

"Especially now, with the amount of prescription drugs out there, there's always new stuff coming up and as soon as you put the TruNarc on it, it tells you what it is," said Lt. Detective Robert Merner, commander of the Boston Police Department's drug control unit.

Police say it could be used effectively as an initial test, but a second test in a laboratory will continue to be needed as the case is prosecuted in court.

"I foresee using it as a quick screening device. In the streets, the officers can use it to see what substance they have," said Jose Gonzalez, a criminalist in the narcotics unit of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Chicago police say the device is particularly useful at the beginning stages of an investigation, for example, when police are conducting a search and come across unknown substances. But they say the device has limitations, including an inability to test for marijuana. The company said Raman spectroscopy is not suitable to analyze plant-based materials such as marijuana or hashishbecause they tend to fluoresce.

Commander James O'Grady of Chicago's narcotics unit said the department is unlikely to purchase many of the devices, which will sell for just under $20,000 each.

"We like the device. For a preliminary investigation on the street, it's a great resource. Are we going to go out and buy 20 of them? Probably not. That's expensive," O'Grady said.

Some defense attorneys are skeptical.

Boston attorney Michael Bourbeau said he would strongly oppose the admission in court of any evidence gathered by using the device.

"There is no substitute for careful testing in a laboratory," Bourbeau said. "When you've got someone's liberty at stake, you certainly have to utilize all your resources to make sure your decisions are the correct ones."

Quincy police, however, say the device is extremely accurate. The state laboratory has confirmed the results of the testing done by TruNarc in 29 out of 30 samples. Only one test done by the device was inconclusive, but that was because of operator error, Glynn said.

Glynn said he believes the device will save the department money in the long run because offices will no longer have to use multiple chemical tests to determine what an unknown substance is. The pouches cost $6 to $10 each.

"It is the same technology being used in the lab," Glynn said. "The ultimate goal is that the court will accept this.""

February 1, 2012 

Denise Lavoie 
Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...ugs/?page=full

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