New fingerprint test can identify cocaine use

A new fingerprint test can identify whether people have taken or handled cocaine.

Researchers at the University of Surrey explained their methods for accurate drug testing using a fingerprint sample in the Scientific Reports journal.

To do this they use a technology known as high resolution mass spectrometry, which can detect traces of drugs and their metabolites in sweat collected from fingerprints.

Image:Cocaine use is on the rise in the UK

A commercial version of the test is already available from Intelligence Fingerprinting, and is used by Peterborough Council as well as the Wilco Group construction firm.

The team took fingerprints from people seeking treatment at drug rehabilitation clinics who had taken cocaine in the last 24 hours.

The participants were then told to wash their hands with soap and water before giving another set of fingerprints.

According to the scientists, a molecule produced in the body as a metabolite of cocaine, Benzoylecgonine, could be found in the tests of people even after they had washed their hands.

This chemical was not present in samples from people who had not consumed the drug.

According to the Home Office's drug misuse statistics, powder cocaine use has been consistently on the rise since 2012-13, with 2.9% of Britons aged 16 to 59 using it in the past year.

The

cocaine market in London

alone is now estimated to be worth £1bn a year, according to researchers at King's College London.

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Studying waste products in water, the scientists found an average of 23kg of the Class A drug was being consumed every day in London - twice the amount of any other European city.

Experts say cocaine use in the UK is much greater than previously thought after

thousands of drug users admitted

taking the drug on a regular basis.