Drugwipe test

Operation

The test is accomplished by wiping a small moist wiping fleece on a surface, or on the forehead, palm, or tongue of an individual. It can detect cannabis, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, morphine, amphetamines, MDMA, and benzodiazepines. Immuno assay strips containing antibodies bind to components of the different drugs.

Reliability

The Center for Forensic Research & Education performed an independent laboratory evaluation of 10 on-site oral fluid devices. DrugWipe was the #1 rated oral fluid device in this study, performing at 100% accuracy, with zero false positives and zero false negatives.

Studies have been performed by the Walsh Group of the US (ROSITA Study) and the DRUIDS study funded by the European Union. Drugwipe was one of nine products described as "promising".

Drugwipe was part of the ONDCP Technology Transfer Program to support law enforcement efforts.

As this 1999 DEA Bulletin shows, Drugwipe is still effective when testing 'Black Cocaine' even when chemical tests fail to detect.

Drugwipe tests from saliva used by Finnish police have been found to be unreliable. According to statistics by the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland, of positive results for cannabis, cocaine and opioids, two-thirds were false when compared to a blood test. As positive test results have been used as sufficient grounds for a ban on driving, the Finnish Parliamentary Ombudsman issued a statement condemning the practice.

"At 3 check points organized by the Swiss police in Bern, 61 drivers were tested for the presence of drugs of abuse using the Drugwipe 5 device. In parallel, oral fluid was collected with the Intercept DOA Oral Specimen Collection device and tested by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after methylation of THC (limit of quantitation 1 ng/mL).

The Drugwipe device identified 1 exposed driver, but with GC-MS, 18 drivers tested positive. THC concentrations in the Intercept buffer ranged from 2.1 to 205.1 ng/mL. These concentrations represent about 1/2 to 1/3 the authentic THC concentrations in oral fluid because of the dilution by the blue liquid of the device. Two main limitations of oral fluid were 1. the amount of matrix collected is smaller when compared to urine and 2. the levels of drugs in urine are higher than in oral fluid. A current limitation of the use of this specimen for roadside testing is the absence of a suitable immunoassay that detects the parent compound in sufficiently low concentrations."

"The three tested on-site screening devices, Mavand RapidSTAT®, Securetec Drugwipe-5+® and Dräger DrugTest 5000® were able to detect about 70% of all cocaine and cannabis users in a roadside setting. Amphetamine/MDMA users were detected more easily with a sensitivity higher than 92%. The sensitivity of the oral fluid screening tests for THC is increasing as manufactures are still trying to lower the cut-off of their devices. First results using the new DrugTest 5000 test cassette® demonstrate that a sensitivity of 93% is possible."

"During a 11-month period, 1.212 drivers were tested. Both OF and urine on-site tests were compared to serum results. The following sensitivities were obtained by the oral fluid devices: THC 71% (DrugWipe(®)), 87% (Dräger), 91% (RapidSTAT); opiates 95% (Dräger), 100% (DrugWipe(®), RapidSTAT(®)); amphetamine 84% (DrugTest(®) 5000), 90% (RapidSTAT(®)), 100% (DrugTest(®) 5000); methamphetamine 50% (DrugTest(®) 5000), 100% (RapidSTAT(®)); cocaine 76% (DrugTest(®) 5000), 100% (DrugWipe(®), RapidSTAT(®)); methadone 33-63%, and benzodiazepines 0-33% (both with a low number of positives). THC specificity was especially low (29% [DrugWipe(®)] and 47% [DrugTest(®) 5000]) due to low cut-off concentrations. These data were similar to those obtained from the literature (e.g., DRUID project)."