Drugalyser® Roadside Drug Testing.
Mhs is the UK’s leading authority on drug testing.
Drugalyser® technology means that police officers will no longer have to wait for a police surgeon in order to obtain a blood sample for laboratory analysis.
A ten minute point of care drugalyser test will indicate whether an illicit has been identified. The sample can then be sent off for further laboratory confirmation analysis.
The first drugalyser® devices are due to be in place within months as part of the Government’s clampdown on drug-driving.
Road safety minister Mike Penning said: “It is vital that the police have the tools they need to tackle those who drive while impaired by drugs.
“This equipment will make it easier for the police to prosecute the irresponsible minority who put the lives of the law-abiding majority at risk.”
By the end of September, the Home Office expects to issue manufacturers with a final draft specification for devices paving the way for tests to take place, initially in police stations.
The Canabis Challenge
Current scientific consensus suggests that ‘POC’ (Point of care) immunoassay technology has problems in meaningfully detecting these psychoactive THC metabolites in oral fluid after being ingested. Without a device to detect cannabis at a ‘reasonable’ level there is little point in testing drivers for drugs when their main drug of choice is in fact cannabis.
Despite various exaggerated claims there are very few roadside drug testing devices that can meet the ‘Cananbis challenge’
‘The detection of marijuana use in oral fluid appears to be especially difficult. Marijuana is the most widely abused drug in the United States and for most testing applications [e.g. workplace, criminal justice, drugs/driving etc.] the ability to detect recent marijuana use is critical. This evaluation clearly shows that these POC oral fluid testing devices are not capable of detecting delta-9-THC at levels that are meaningful. Based on available literature, detecting delta-9-THC at 50 ng/mL or greater would provide an extremely short window of detection [e.g. less than one hour]. In the marketing materials for these devices, all of the manufacturers claim they can detect marijuana at low levels [e.g. 6-15 ng/mL]. However, these claims appear to refer to the ability to detect THC-acid [THC-COOH], which is the principal metabolite of delta-9-THC. Our evaluation has demonstrated that, indeed, these devices can detect the THC-acid, which is an important factor in detecting marijuana use in urine, but this is particularly misleading as the literature indicates that the THC-acid metabolite is not present in the oral fluid of a marijuana smoker.’
Walsh Report August 2003 (An Evaluation of oral fluid point of collection testing devices)
2. R.S Niedbala, K.W. Kardos, D.F. Fritch, S. Kardos, T. Fries, J. Waga, J. Robb, and E.J. Cone. Detection of marijuana use by oral fluid and urine analysis following single-dose administration of smoked and oral marijuana. J. Anal. Toxicol. 25: 289–303 (2001).
3. E.A. Kolbrich, I. Kim, A.J. Barnes, E.T. Moolchan, L. Wilson, G.A. Cooper, C. Reid, D. Baldwin, C.W. Hand, and M.A. Huestis. Cozart RapiScan Oral Fluid drugs testing systems an evaluation of sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency for cocaine detection compared with ELISA and GC–MS following controlled cocaine administration. J. Anal. Toxicol. 27: 407–411 (2003).
4. K.F. Buechler, S. Moi, B. Noar, D. McGrath, J. Villela, M. Clancy, A. Shenhav, A. Colleymore, G. Valkirs, T. Lee. Simultaneous detection of seven drugs of abuse by the Triage panel for drugs of abuse. Clin. Chem. 38(9): 1678–1684 (1992).
Drugalyser Meets the challenge.
However the detection of the recent use of Cannabis in oral fluid has now become more effective with the recently launched drugalyser® technology from MHS which has overcome these difficulties by the use of clever built-in chemical technology. Unlike some other POC immunoassay drug testing products this new device is capable of not only detecting most major illegal drug groups but also detecting the recent smoking of cannabis at meaningful levels by detecting the parent drug in the recesses of the mouth.
The whole Drugalyser® process can be completed within 10 minutes in a two-step, simple, on-site process.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Motorists who drive while under the influence of drugs are a menace to the roads and we have already given the police powers to test drivers for signs of impairment.
“We also want them to be able to test drivers for drugs in their system. By the end of September we aim to have issued a final draft specification for a testing device, setting out the drugs we want to detect. As soon as manufacturers have produced devices that satisfy our specification, we will approve them for police to use.”
The Drugalyser® is a registered trade mark for Mhs technology that measures drugs in oral fluid at extremely sensitive levels.
The Drugalyser® offers cut-off levels that are ‘fit for purpose’ and able to meet the challenging standards being set by UK Government.
