💡
This page goes over information that is intended to help programs discern whether an FTIR machine would be a feasible option for their organization. It goes over various considerations to be taken into account when considering starting an on-the-ground drug checking program
If you have or are thinking about getting an FTIR machine and are interested in complementary testing (aka reference lab, secondary verification lab, complementary testing, secondary testing, “confirmatory”), here is a range of circumstances where a partnership with a lab might be helpful.
🌈
We highly recommend FTIR-based drug checking programs check out this primer on why lab partnership's lead to more accurate information for participants.
For FTIR-based programs, we recommend budgeting for 20% of samples in the first year to be sent for lab-based testing.
FTIR Quality Assurance
- New technician training
- Some programs require FTIR technicians to show concordance (within instrument limits) with the first couple hundred samples they run.
- Random 10% of ongoing samples for quality assurance
- After the first year of a program, lab needs may evolve. Some FTIR programs have annual or ongoing quality control periods for established technicians. Other programs routinely send a percent or number of samples randomly selected per month to ensure quality assurance.
FTIR Ongoing Support
Some reasons why you might want to send a sample to the lab:
- The first time you see a new drug on FTIR
- Liquid drugs
- Low FTIR match scores for active ingredient
- Unknown/unidentifiable peaks on FTIR
- Distinguishing between fentanyl analogues
- Suspected nitazene
- Benzodiazepines (don't resolve well on FTIR)
- Most pills, fake or real
- Organic substances (cannabis leaf, mushrooms)
- No detectable opioid matches on heroin/fentanyl/dope samples
- Drug mixtures that have 4+ substances
- Sample FTIR spectra and library hit don't line up well
Test Strip Accuracy
- Evaluating accuracy of new vendor or batch of test strips
- Evaluating accuracy of process for using test strips (dilution, etc.)
- Positive test strip, but negative on FTIR (low concentration or contamination)
Scientific Integrity
- Subset validation for research publication
- If you're writing a paper based on FTIR data, it gives you more credibility if you can show that you "validated" a portion of your FTIR results using GCMS or LCMS or qNMR. This can be like a random 10% of the FTIR samples. It generates in 1 short paragraph in Methods and 1-2 sentences in Results. But it's helpful for getting your work published.
- Here's an open access example from Tobias et al. in Vancouver
- Comparison/reference for new labs starting up
- Got a new local lab partnership? Great! But they don't have lots of solid drug experience? We got you. Some programs will send the same samples to us and their new local lab to let you assess confidence in working with them.
- Hand-held drug checking devices
- Got a new handheld device? Those usually use Raman IR technology. Put 'em through the paces by comparing our lab-confirmed GCMS results with the output from the handheld.