25: Detection of Drugs and Drug Metabolites from Fingerprints
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Published:14 Jul 2016
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Special Collection: RSC eTextbook CollectionProduct Type: Textbooks
P. G. Calavia and D. A. Russell, in Forensic Toxicology: Drug Use and Misuse, ed. S. Davies, A. Johnston, and D. Holt, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016, pp. 498-518.
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Fingerprints are composed of a set of friction ridge skin unique to each individual. Their unique characteristics, together with the fact that fingerprints stay unchanged during an individual's lifetime, has made them the most common tool for identification in forensic investigations. The ridge skin contains pores that are directly linked to the sweat glands in the dermis. Sweat excreted in fingerprints, together with external contamination, is transferred to the surfaces that fingerprints touch in the form of latent fingermarks, invisible to the naked eye. Chemical analysis of these residues can provide important information about the individual's characteristics and lifestyle. The handling of drugs of abuse by an individual can be determined by the presence of drugs in their fingerprints. Furthermore, drugs ingested by an individual are metabolised in the body, after which the drug metabolites are excreted and are found in sweat. Importantly, the detection of drug metabolites in fingerprints can prove consumption of drugs by an individual. This chapter reviews the current advances on the detection of drugs, drug metabolites and other chemicals from latent fingerprints.