Swedish research comes closer to breathalyser for illegal drugs

Using a commercially available breath sampler, the researchers claim to have identified a range of 12 substances in the breath of 40 patients recruited from a drug emergency clinic in Stockholm.

Their findings have been published in Journal of Breath Research.

Blood, urine and saliva are the most popular methods for detecting illegal drugs and are already used by law enforcement in a number of countries; however, exhaled breath is seen as a promising alternative as it’s easier to collect, non-invasive, less prone to adulteration and advantageous when location becomes an obstacle, such as at the roadside.

Exhaled breath contains very small particles that carry non-volatile substances from the airway lining fluid. Any compound that has been inhaled, or is present in the blood, may contaminate this fluid and pass into the breath when the airways open. The compounds will then be exhaled and can subsequently be detected.

In this study, researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm collected breath, blood plasma and urine samples from 47 patients who had taken drugs in the previous 24 hours and were recovering at a drug addiction emergency clinic.