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Seized drugs

Just Wastewater Drug Surveillance in Kentucky

July 2024

In episode three of our Community Based solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Doctor Chris Delcher, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science and director of the Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Kentucky, to discuss how his team tracks community drug use through wastewater analysis. Much like analyzing a urine sample to determine what drugs an individual is using. Analyzing wastewater from a community offers insight into drug trends across an entire region of people.

Just Rapidly Identifying Drugs Involved In Suspected Overdoses

April 2023

In episode two of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Bill Barbour, Fatal Overdose Surveillance Program Manager at King County Medical Examiner’s Office, to discuss his team’s methods for rapid toxicology results after a suspected overdose death.

Just Navigating Reentry using Peer Support

July 2024

In episode five of our community based solutions for Substance Use Challenges season Just Science sits down with doctor Nicole Swiderski, New Jersey path to recovery grant manager and Jass Pelland, New Jersey Path to Recovery program manager to discuss how the New Jersey State Parole Board's 2021 Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant and Substance Use Program Award is supporting peer recovery and other services that help individuals with a substance use disorder navigate reentering the community after release from prison.

Just Increasing Access To Drug - Checking Services

July 2024

In episode four of our community based solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Doctor Nabarun Dasgupta, pharmacoepidemiologist and senior scientist at the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, and Erin Tracy, research chemist in the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, to discuss their unique approach to providing drug checking services on a broad scale.

Seized Drugs and Toxicology Research and Development; 2022 NIJ Forensic R&D Symposium

March 2022

The NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium is an open meeting where attendees can learn about NIJ-funded research across a variety of forensic science areas. This is one of four videos from the 2022 symposium, which was held March 1-2, 2022.

Presentations include - 

2022 NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium

The NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium is an open meeting where attendees can learn about NIJ-funded research across a variety of forensic science areas. The 2024 symposium was was held March 1-2, 2022.

NIJ and its Forensic Technology Center of Excellence are committed to improving the practice of forensic science and strengthening its impact by supporting research and development, rigorous technology evaluation and...

Evaluating a Statistical Method for Comparison of Mass Spectra of Novel Psychoactive Substance

July 2024

Identification of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) based on comparisons of electron-ionization (EI) mass spectra continues to pose challenges in seized drug analysis. In this webinar, a method to statistically compare EI mass spectra is described, and an application of the method to distinguish several structural and positional isomers of NPS analogs are demonstrated.

This webinar was hosted by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 25, 2024. 

Virtual Workshop Series: Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) for Seized Drug Analysis

Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) is a powerful analytical technique that allows for rapid detection and characterization of a wide range of compounds, including seized drugs. Over the last ten years, the DART- MS has slowly gained in popularity in crime labs due to its ability to provide rapid, reliable results with minimal samples preparation. Despite these advantages, DART-MS remains underutilized due to cost, data interpretation...