A Diagnostic Screening Technology for Road-Side Drug Testing

酒后驾车对加拿大人的安全构成了日益严重的威胁。事实上，根据加拿大药物滥用和成瘾中心的数据，在交通事故中死亡的司机和药物检测呈阳性的司机的比例高于酒精。在某种程度上，这一趋势是由加拿大目前的阿片类药物危机推动的。因此，迫切需要一种方便、即时、准确的道路侧障碍驾驶评估技术。目前路边药物测试的解决办法是购置一个价值4 500美元的便携式基站，警察为每个用户每次测试将支付大约35美元的费用。然而，这仍然只是一个定性指标。药物的定量检测需要昂贵的设备、专用的基础设施和专业的实验室人员。为了解决这个问题，安大略省的Eye3Concepts公司正与麦克马斯特大学（McMaster University）合作，希望采用其名为pd.id的基于智能手机的阅读器技术。pd。id是由NSERC Engage和OCE-VIP 1项目资助，与麦克马斯特大学早期合作开发的，用于检测液体中是否存在约会强奸药物。在这个项目中，pd。id将适应一种技术，这种技术包括一条涂有试剂的条带，这些试剂与唾液中的药物（四氢大麻酚和甲基苯丙胺）结合，并发出光谱波长。这些发射的光谱特征将被一个特殊的传感器记录下来，机载微处理器配备了复杂的信号处理算法，将其转换为数字签名，进行进一步分析，并将其与数字签名库进行比较，以标记任何pd的存在。pd。这种设备将是电子的、可充电的，因此可以持续使用。它将与包含数字图书馆的智能手机集成，或者能够与包含数据库的云通信，从而进一步增加复杂性。

Drug-impaired driving represents a significant and increasing threat to the safety of Canadians. Indeed, according to the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse and Addiction, the percentage of drivers killed in vehicle accidents and testing positive for drugs is higher than that of alcohol. In part, this trend has been driven by the current opioid crisis in Canada. Thus, there is an urgent need for a convenient, instantaneous and accurate road-side evaluation technology for impaired driving. Current solution for roadside drug testing involves the acquisition of a $4,500 portable base station and the police will incur costs of approximately $35 per test for each user. However, this is still just a qualitative indicator. Quantitative detection of drugs requires expensive equipment, dedicated infrastructure and specialized laboratory personnel. To address this problem, Eye3Concepts Inc., an Ontario based company, is teaming up with McMaster University and wants to adapt its smartphone based reader technology called pd.id. pd.id was developed in an earlier collaborative effort with McMaster, funded via NSERC Engage and OCE-VIP 1 programs, to detect the presence of date rape drugs in liquids. In this project, pd.id will be adapted towards a technology that consists of a strip coated with reagents that bind with the drugs (THC and methamphetamine) in saliva and emit spectral wavelengths. These emitted spectral signatures will be recorded by a special sensor and an onboard microprocessor equipped with sophisticated signal processing algorithms will convert it to a digital signature, conduct further analysis, and compare it with a digital library of signatures to flag the presence of any PDs. The pd.id device will be electronic and rechargeable so it can be used constantly. It will be integrated with a smartphone containing the digital library or be able to communicate with the cloud containing the database, adding a further level of sophistication.