A portable illicit drug detection device for Correctional Service of Canada

联邦监狱中非法药物的存在是对安全和安保的威胁，并干扰 加拿大惩教署(CSC)的使命和企业优先事项。吸毒会导致暴力和 联邦监狱内的有组织犯罪。CSC将面临提高安全性、减少累犯率和 在不首先减少有问题的毒品使用的情况下打击有组织犯罪。 这项研究的目的是开发一种手持传感器，用于现场推定非法药物筛查， 从而为CSC提供了有效手段，以应对联邦机构中正在发生的阿片类药物危机。传感器 将通过CSC、皇后大学的研究人员和初创企业之间的合作开发 SPECTRA等离子体公司。这一合作伙伴关系寻求利用一项正在申请专利的技术 最近在首席调查员实验室开发的，它允许超灵敏地识别 通过一种称为表面增强拉曼散射的光谱技术研究混合物中的分子。 在该项目过程中进行的研究旨在将该技术从实验室转移到实际应用中，并 还提高了传感器的性能，使药物识别方法发生了革命性的变化 对抗加拿大和全世界的阿片类药物危机。

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.