Smartphones Could Soon Detect Date-Rape Drugs Via A Color-Picking App

A team at the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol is working to make nights out on the town a little safer for everyone. They’ve found a way to identify the popular date-rape drug, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), through a smartphone app.
 
The Class C drug induces amnesic effects in its victim and has been seen in sexual assault cases, poisoning, and even robberies. It is illegal in the UK, and the US, under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unfortunately, an alternative known as gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) can be easily bought in the UK and converted into GHB, also known as ‘liquid ecstasy’.
 
GHB is notoriously hard to detect as it requires special equipment, trained staff, biosensing, and gas chromatographic testing to suss it out. That, coupled with the fact that there has been a rise in GHB-induced incidents, has caused the team to try searching for a way to keep people safe when out drinking.
 
Within the new study, the team added hydroxylamine or ferric chloride to fuel a reaction. Then, they used an app called ‘Color Picker and Helper’ to see if the drink turned into the right shade of purple. If it did, it was likely to contain GHB.
 
This app extracts numerical values of red, green, and blue within the liquid it was testing. With the data, it can determine what the concentration of GHB present is in lager samples.
 
The new testing method is simple enough that ordinary people can check their drinks themselves and determine if it has spiked without needing professionals or extensive testing. The app is also available on the Apple App Store, making the tool fairly accessible.

 
 
 
[via Evening Standard and Metro.co.uk, Photo 243956262 © Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com]