The breathalyzer for drugs is becoming a reality. The dopes at Philips have developed an on-the-go drug test, that can be used by the side of the road to test suspected druggies who may have tried cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamines and methaphetamine.
Unlike the regular alcohol testing equipment, this one has the suspect spit into the machine, which is then sucked into the measurement chamber which contains magnetic nanoparticles coated with ligands that bind to one of five different drug groups, delivering color coded test results in about 90 seconds.
Philips, which has been developing the device since 2001, built the machine as an optical device that will be easy to mass produce for law enforcement. The company expects to ship them by the end of 2009.