B&W Tek, a Newark-based advanced instrumentation company that sells lab-quality Raman spectroscopy handhelds, has issued a fentanyl and heroin street narcotic identification update for their TacticID handheld spectrometer used by many law enforcement units.
The TacticID system includes an extensive on-board library of narcotics, pharmaceutical pills and cutting agents and thousands of hazardous and common chemicals and explosives. Users can accurately identify unknown substances in seconds.
The system delivers fast, accurate, on-site identification of unknown substances in seconds with clear warning signals and safety information.
Fentanyl can be used to increase the opioid effect of heroin, and it is mistakenly sold as heroin on the street. Fentanyl and heroin overdoses have increased over 200 percent since 2010, becoming an issue in the upcoming presidential election.
With the update to the TacticID, the handheld can identify current analogs of fentanyl and can differentiate between heroin and fentanyl mixtures, fentanyl-only cuts and heroin-only cuts of street samples. The update will help law enforcement officers identify fentanyl quickly and accurately, and it can limit their exposure to hazardous chemicals and explosives.