Dry swabs can be successfully used to detect drugs on smartphone surfaces, study shows.
A simple and convenient method to collect drug use data from the surface of a smartphone is revealed for the first time in a new study published in De Gruyter’s Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. By helping clinicians understand what drugs people are taking in certain contexts, the research could protect public health and improve the treatment of patients suspected of overdosing.
Dr. Théo Willeman of Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, France and colleagues explored whether one of our most handled objects – the smartphone – could be a more convenient way to track drug use. Fingerprints on a phone’s surface contain sweat and sebum that can reveal the presence of drugs, and the surface itself can retain traces of any drugs consumed directly from it.
The researchers invited drug users at techno and trance music events in France to anonymously complete a questionnaire about their drug use, and then dry swabbed the surface of their smartphones. The swabs were later analyzed using liquid chromatography to detect drugs.
The researchers collected and analyzed 122 swabs and successfully identified a variety of drugs. The three most common were MDMA, cocaine and THC, but the researchers also found ketamine, LSD, methamphetamine, CBD, heroin and mescaline. The results confirm that smartphones can successfully provide a convenient and non-invasive way to assess drug use.
The study has some limitations. For instance, the stability of drug molecules on a smartphone surface is not known, and this could influence the results if substances degrade quickly or slowly. The method is also limited by the possibility that several people may have handled the smartphone or it could be contaminated by drug traces in the environment. However, the study is intended as a proof-of-concept, and further research can cast light on these unknowns and further validate the technique.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/cclm-2024-0242/html
