About This Webinar
According to the United Nation’s 2022 World Drug Report, there was a 26% increase in drug use by 15- to 64-year-olds in the last decade, with approximately 284 million illicit drug users in 2020. As of April 2022, overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 100,000 annually and have continued at these staggering levels ever since. Overdose deaths are predominantly driven by the epidemic of the nonmedical use of fentanyl, which can be fatal in tiny doses and is commonly used to cut other drugs such as street cocaine or is found in counterfeit pharmaceuticals such as "Mexican oxy" where the active ingredient is replaced with fentanyl.
Portable spectrometers have the potential to be a powerful tool for combatting the modern illicit drug trade in the field. The most significant advantage of portable spectrometers over other field tests is their capability to provide confirmatory analysis, which is rapid, reliable, and creates a reviewable record. Although no single portable spectrometer can analyze all samples, each modern instrument has its advantages and limitations with regard to the detection and identification of illicit drugs. Ultimately, a toolbox approach is needed to ensure that the right tool is used for the right job in the right way. This presentation highlights applications of portable spectroscopy and spectrometry in the field detection of illicit drugs, which both have notable effects on the delivery of improved criminal justice.
Who should attend:
Researchers, manufacturers, lab technicians, and R&D scientists who utilize portable spectroscopy in their work. Those working in forensic science, pharmaceutical research, and medicine who are interested in spectroscopy’s advantages. Anyone who works with technologies such as imaging, microscopy, biophotonics, and test and measurement.
About the presenters:
Brooke W. Kammrath, Ph.D., ABC-GKE, is a professor of forensic science at the University of New Haven and the assistant director of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science. Additionally, she works as a consulting criminalist, where she is a qualified expert in both state and federal courts. She is a member of several professional organizations and is the past-president of the New York Microscopical Society (NYMS) as well as being on the Governing Boards of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS) and the Eastern Analytical Symposium (EAS). Kammrath also serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Forensic Sciences. She is the coeditor with Richard Crocombe and Pauline E. Leary of the two-volume book Portable Spectroscopy and Spectrometry and the coauthor with Peter De Forest and Peter Pizzola of the book Blood Traces.
Pauline E. Leary, Ph.D., is a subject matter expert at Noble, specializing in miniature and portable spectrometers. For over 15 years, she has been training field scientists, emergency responders, and conventional and specialized forces of the military on the theory and operation of portable systems used to detect and identify dangerous threats. Prior to specializing in portable systems, Leary spent six years working as an R&D scientist performing physical and chemical characterization of drugs and drug products. She is joint editor with Richard Crocombe and Brooke Kammrath on the two-volume text Portable Spectroscopy and Spectrometry published by Wiley.
About the sponsor:
Metrohm is one of the world’s most trusted manufacturers of high-precision instruments for chemical analysis in the lab and in process. Specializing in titration, ion chromatography, electrochemistry and spectroscopy, Metrohm is a Swiss company, with its US headquarters located right outside of Tampa, FL. For more information, please visit metrohm.com.