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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: How does the drugalyser work?
Mark Honigsbaum The Guardian
Thursday 02 Jun 2005 According to some reports, it is the latest answer to drug-driving: a handheld device that enables police to measure accurately at the roadside the presence of cannabis, cocaine and heroin. RapiScan, made by British diagnostics company Cozart, is being piloted at more than 170 police stations in London, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire and Nottingham. Saliva is sampled from under the tongue and drops of fluid enter the well of a cartridge containing a nitrocellulose strip. Antibodies in the saliva migrate to sections of the strip containing the corresponding immobilised drugs, causing them to change colour. According to Cozart's technical director, Dene Baldwin, the strip looks a little like a bar code. "Depending on the level of the drug, you will get an array of line intensities on the panel." The key is the scanner's claim to accuracy. Baldwin says the nitrocellulose strip detects antibodies at one part per billion, the lower end of the confirmatory point used in blood tests. The reason is that antibodies for drugs disappear as the drugs are metabolised by the body. RapiScan is aimed at picking up all drivers with traces of drugs in their blood - not only heavy users.
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