Harrow Council in the UK has successfully trialied a drug-test technology that uses fingerprints alone.

According to a news report, Intelligent Fingerprinting uses a portable device to analyze tiny traces of sweat from fingerprints and within ten minutes, it accurately detects use of drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin and more, which could only be possible by taking an urine or saliva sample.

The Intelligent Fingerprinting trial was undertaken by Harrow Council’s Children and Family Care service, in particular as part of a family safeguarding program, which aims to help families stay together by beating drug abuse and addiction. Christine Robson, Portfolio Holder for Children and Families, said “As always our focus is upon the best interests of the children, young people and their families. For what we want to achieve, Intelligent Fingerprinting is better in every way than conventional drug testing. It allows people to prove they’re clean with no fuss, in ten minutes flat. Its low cost means we don’t have to think twice about testing, and it gives people the assurance and satisfaction of showing their clear test results right away. And if the results come back showing recent drug use, well that’s better for everyone too, as we can engage with the issue right away, together, which is one of the most important things we’re here to do.”

Intelligent Fingerprinting’s drug testing solution features a small, tamper-evident drug screening cartridge onto which the client’s fingerprints are collected in a process that takes less than a minute. The portable analysis unit then reads the cartridge and provides a positive or negative result on-screen for cocaine, opiates, cannabis and methamphetamine in ten minutes.