A portable illicit drug detection device for Correctional Service of Canada

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The presence of illicit drugs in federal penitentiaries is a threat to safety and security and interferes with the mission and corporate priorities of Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Drug use contributes to violence and organized crime within federal penitentiaries. CSC will be challenged to improve safety, reduce recidivism and undermine organized crime without first reducing the problematic use of drugs. The purpose of this research is to develop a handheld sensor for on-site presumptive illicit drug screening, thus providing CSC with effective means to combat the ongoing opioid crisis in federal institutions. The sensor will be developed through a partnership between CSC, researchers at Queen's University, and the start-up company Spectra Plasmonics. This partnership seeks to take advantage of a patent-pending technology that was recently developed at the Principal Investigator's laboratory, which permits ultrasensitive identification of molecules in mixtures through a spectroscopic technique called Surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Research performed over the course of this project aims to move this technology from lab to real practice and also improve the sensor's performance to the point that it revolutionizes drug identification methods used against the opioid crisis in Canada and worldwide.