New weapon in fentanyl fight on Long Island identifies drugs more safely
NEW YORK - Suffolk County Police have a new tool in their fight against the fentanyl epidemic: Five new devices that can quickly identify hundreds of illegal drugs in one simple test.
The handheld TruNarc device uses a laser and analyzes light waves to quickly identify more than 500 known and emerging narcotics through plastic and packaging.
Suffolk County officials say the devices can be a lifesaving gamechanger for first responders who often come upon drugs they have to handle to identify.
It can be lifesaving for unconscious victims of overdoses. If the drug can be quickly identified, then treatment, such as Narcan, can be administered. It can also potentially be lifesaving for first responders, who for decades had to use a chemistry test.
"A huge breakthrough"
"This is a huge breakthrough. It protects those in law enforcement, and others," Suffolk County Ed Romaine said.
"If we came upon a substance, we have to take it out, put it in a vial and test it. Under this new system, it can stay in the packaging," Suffolk County Acting Police Commissioner Robert Warring said.
"Fentanyl is a drug that looks remarkably like any other drug, but it's really not a drug. It's a poison, and a very small exposure to to a very small amount of fentanyl can kill you," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
Experts say fentanyl is not easily absorbed through the skin, but it can be deadly when accidentally ingested. A toddler died in Holbrook earlier this year because of that. Suffolk Police say there have been seven incidents of officer exposure to fentanyl.
"We have officers who are searching a person, they are searching a car, and essentially the powder, or substance, is spread. If they happen to get it in their eyes, in their nose, mouth, they get an absorption," Dr. James Vosswinkel of Stony Brook University Medicine.
Lisa Tuozzolo, whose NYPD husband was killed in the line of duty, helped raise the funds to donate the devices through the Suffolk County Police Foundation she helped form.
"Losing Paul, and having his life be lost in vain, we are making sure that everything we are doing is towards the direction of saving other officers' lives," Tuozzolo said.
The five devices cost $150,000.
Romaine said even more are needed in patrol cars and ambulances to save lives.
The company says the devices are now in use all fifty states.