Bath scientists develop "ground breaking" drug detection device
It's thought the device could revolutionise how Spice is detected
West Country scientists are unveiling a new machine that can detect one of the most prevalent street drugs in the UK.
The hand held piece of kit made at the University of Bath has a 95 per cent hit rate at detecting the drug Spice, which is common in prisons and amongst homeless people and can cause psychosis, strokes and even death.
It is designed to light up when pointed at Spice soaked into paper or fabric and is expected to be cleared for rollout across the UK within months.
Researchers hope that in its current format, the drug detector will be used to stem the flow of Spice smuggled into prisons and reduce the devastating effects on users of these highly addictive synthetic drugs.
Professor Christopher Pudney, who led the research from the Department of Life Sciences at Bath, said: “Our device is truly ground-breaking – it’s battery-operated, ultra-portable, low-cost and gives instant results that anyone can interpret.
“Detecting Spice is a major challenge with currently available technology, not least because the substance is usually smuggled into prisons absorbed into physical products like paper and fabric, and now also in vape liquid, which makes detection very difficult.”
The device, and it’s potential to revolutionise the detection of Spice, is described this week in the journal Analytical Chemistry, published by the American Chemical Society.
The researchers expect that the new tool will be ready for mass production this Autumn.
The team is currently looking for a company able to manufacture the device at scale and distribute it to prisons, probation services, homeless shelters and relevant charities – initially in the UK but eventually also overseas.
Spice can be soaked into paper or other solid materials like clothing, and this has become a common way to smuggle it into institutions, as most detection technologies struggle to produce a reliable result when testing 'complex' materials.
Professor Pudney said: “Typically, Spice enters prisons on paper, and once it’s inside, it’s divided into smaller paper sheets in the prison and then sold.
"The paper is crumpled up and inserted into a vape pen and smoked, so detection in the prison environment is incredibly challenging.”
“We see our device being used to decrease the amount of Spice used by all vulnerable communities, and we hope that leads to a better chance for people to recover from addiction and decrease serious health outcomes,” said Professor Pudney.
The device works by detecting the fluorescent properties that make up the core part of the synthetic cannabinoid (Spice) molecule.
An ‘alarm’ for Spice shows up as a glowing ring of LEDs, to alert the operator to the presence of the substance.
The greater the concentration of Spice, the brighter the LEDs glow.
Spice was originally designed to mimic the effects of natural cannabis, but it is much stronger than cannabis, making it considerably more dangerous and unpredictable.
Recently, Spice has also been added to liquids in vapes, putting unsuspecting smokers at risk.
Generally, smokers are duped into smoking Spice when they have bought their vape liquid from a dealer and believe they are smoking vape liquid containing THC (one of the psychoactive substances extracted from cannabis) or cannabis oil. Even when hidden this way, however, the drug can be easily detected by the new device.
“We can spot Spice easily simply by opening a vape and testing the mouth filter,” said Professor Pudney.
Professor Stephen Husbands and Dr Gyles Cozier, also from the Department of Life Sciences at Bath, are also involved in this research.