Although alcohol consumption remains the main cause of fatal road accidents in most countries, it is now well established that the use of drugs of abuse (such as cannabis, opiates, amphetamines or cocaine) can impair a person's ability to drive safely. This is the reason why a growing interest has been expressed by law enforcement agencies for carrying out roadside tests with immediate results. Recently, the Drugwipe, a non-instrumental immunodiagnostic assay for the detection of drugs on surfaces was introduced by Securetec (Ottobrunn, Germany). During the last years, several studies were performed in order to evaluate the scientific applications of this tool when applied to easily accessible biological fluids, such as saliva and sweat. Different sampling procedures were performed for both saliva (wiping the tongue, plunging the Drugwipe into saliva, ...) and sweat (wiping forehead, hands, ...). Despite these differences, a survey of the results indicates that the conclusions of these different studies are quite similar. Drugwipe appears to be sufficiently sensitive for the detection of a recent use of cocaine and amphetamine in these fluids. On the opposite, a lack of sensitivity was sometimes observed in documenting heroin exposure. Concerning cannabinoids, all the authors observed insufficient results with an important number of false negative and even false positive results. Therefore, until new antibodies (higher sensitivity for THC or opiates) will be developed, Drugwipe should not be considered as a good tool for on-site detection of drugs of abuse in saliva and sweat.
Samenvatting