Cocaine trafficking and use is rampant throughout the United States, and it is vital that law enforcement agencies tasked with confronting this issue have the proper means and training on how to detect the drug. Ion-mobility spectrometry was used to test for trace quantities of cocaine on an assortment of clothing items and surfaces in order to simulate a law enforcement officer searching for drugs on a vessel or evidence of drug trafficking on the suspect’s person. Each clothing item and surface was treated with a standard method of application of cocaine and cocaine simulants. The clothing items were then tested using Smiths Detection IONSCAN 400B and 500DT instruments. This experiment as a whole can be used to help optimize the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies’ drug detection programs, including training of officers using non controlled substances.

Detection of cocaine and cocaine simulants on clothing with ion mobility spectrometry (IMS)

2019 Spring National Meeting

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