Originally published by ISSUP (International Society of Substance Use Professionals)

Some workplaces in the UK are turning to a unique company with a fascinating new and noninvasive way to test for drugs in the workplace –Intelligent Fingerprinting. Using the company’s Drug Screening Cartridges, in the space of about 10 minutes, their DSR-Plus portable reader can have results. The cartridges work by detecting target drugs and their metabolites (substances produced by the body when a drug metabolizes) within tiny traces of sweat in fingerprints (Intelligent Fingerprinting, 2023). The system will generally pick up on drugs used within the past 24 hours, with some exceptions.

More and more studies are now researching the efficacy of the fingerprint testing method, including a 2019 National Institute of Health (NIH) study, which found that most tests had an accuracy rating of above 90%, compared with other collecting methods such as blood or urine. This new technology appears promising for the future of workplace drug testing (Hudson et al., 2018).

Potential benefits of this testing method include:

• Quick results
• Minimal training to administer
• Easy implementation (can be conducted anywhere)
• No collection or disposal concerns (leading also to reduced environmental waste)
• Can be done immediately following workplace incidents, or for reasonable cause

The company has gained accreditation with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and is currently working on getting FDA approval in the US, while their confirmation test cartridge is already an approved FDA medical product, and their UK production site is FDA registered.

Of course, all companies should have a comprehensive  drug-free workplace policy that outlines what happens should any drug tests return positive results, how those results will be confirmed, and subsequent actions that may be taken by the employer.

Resources

1. Intelligent Fingerprinting. (2023, January 27). Simple, Non-Invasive Workplace Drug Testing | Intelligent Fingerprinting.
2. Palletways adopts drug testing solution from Intelligent Fingerprinting | Business Weekly | Technology News | Business news | Cambridge and the East of England. (n.d.). https://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/palletways-adopts-drug-testing-solution-intelligent-fingerprinting
3. Fingerprint Drug Testing A Revolution for Workplace Drug Screening White Paper 2 | Intelligent Fingerprinting. (n.d.).
4. Hudson, M., Stuchinskaya, T., Ramma, S., Patel, J., Sievers, C., Goetz, S., Hines, S., Menzies, E., & Russell, D. A. (2019). Drug screening using the sweat of a fingerprint: lateral flow detection of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cocaine, opiates and amphetamine. Journal of analytical toxicology, 43(2), 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1093/jat/bky068

Initially published by Gardenforum.

Global garden equipment manufacturer Hozelock is to implement drug tests to promote employee safety, utilising fingerprint sweat-based technology from Intelligent Fingerprinting.

Hozelock will use the fingerprint sweat-based drug test to determine any recent employee use of cocaine, cannabis, methamphetamine or opioids.

The Intelligent Fingerprinting platform, which analyses sweat to screen for recent drug use, is quick, hygienic and non-invasive, and enables Hozelock’s HR staff members to easily conduct drug tests whenever necessary.

As Hozelock staff numbers vary according to seasonal demand, ranging from 320 to approximately 650, fingerprint test technology makes testing especially convenient when staffing resources are more limited.

Originally published by PBC Today.

PJ Hegarty Construction has adopted an innovative fingerprint drug testing technology across a number of its UK sites

The building & civil engineering contractor will use Intelligent Fingerprinting’s non-invasive fingerprint drug testing – which uses sweat technology – for employee drug screening.

Using ten sweat samples, the fingerprint drug testing technology can screen for recent use of cannabis, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine and provide a positive or negative result on-screen on-site within ten minutes.

PJ Hegarty will use fingerprint drug testing across a number of UK sites with the potential to be used on various projects for HS2.

Encourage adherence to drug and alcohol policies

Narinder Singh Lall, EHS advisor at PJ Hegarty & Sons UK Ltd said: “We needed an in-house drug test, so compared the innovative fingerprint sweat method with more traditional saliva swabs.

“From PJ Hegarty’s perspective, Intelligent Fingerprinting proved a clear winner thanks to immediate on-site results, and the ability to collect samples without the need for specialist collection areas or medically trained personnel.

“We also found the Intelligent Fingerprinting approach was highly visual, offering a proactive deterrent to those seeking employment as well as an incentive to our existing workforce to encourage adherence to our drug and alcohol policy.

“Random fingerprint drug testing is a fantastic solution and, not surprisingly, is rapidly becoming best practice in the construction sector. We’ve heard of other organisations using it and, by adopting it, PJ Hegarty sends a clear signal – to both prospective employees as well as the rest of the industry – that we’re serious about providing a quality service and leading within the construction industry to adopt new technologies to further strengthen best practices in the areas of health and safety.”

A growing number of companies have adopted fingerprint drug testing

Terry Elvin, Intelligent Fingerprinting account manager for PJ Hegarty, added: “Fingerprint drug testing is fast becoming best practice in the construction sector – tests can be managed in-house by a company’s HR or Health & Safety Manager – whenever required and, costs can be tightly controlled.

“With a growing number of companies rapidly adopting the test – including Hayfield Homes, Stonbury and MPB Structures – safety officers in the construction industry are realising that Intelligent Fingerprinting helps them deliver their drug testing obligations as simply and effectively as possible.

“It feels great to be able to offer a solution that not only makes workplaces safer but also makes it much easier for HR teams to deliver on their health and safety obligations.”

Originally published by the Recovery Village.

Fingerprint tests for drug use could be the most efficient and accurate technology to date for detecting a variety of substances present in sweat in the body.

Intelligent fingerprinting may be a valuable new way to detect drug use. A fingerprint drug test uses small amounts of sweat on the tip of a person’s finger to measure drug content in their body. The finger is pressed against a tamper-proof cartridge and results appear on a screen. The sample can be collected in as little as five seconds. If drugs have been used, a screen will report the kind of drug present within ten minutes. Tests have been used to cross-analyze results of these tests with fluid collected from saliva and found them to be just as accurate.

Fingerprint drug tests have been used on a trial basis in the United Kingdom as part of family care services, which helps families who are struggling with drug addiction. Many kinds of drugs can be screened for using this process, including opioids and marijuana. This technology is proving to be useful and effective for quickly and easily detecting drug use. Its potential extends to public health personnel, such as law enforcement and family services workers.

Why Fingerprint Drug Tests?

Drug test methods have historically required urine or blood samples to determine the presence and concentration of drugs. Multiple cultural factors underlie the need for an updated method of determining if a person has used drugs. Now that many states have legalized marijuana use, it could be important for law enforcement officials to be able to collect information at traffic stops or other settings quickly and efficiently.

For families or individuals in recovery, creating non-invasive drug testing options can help build trust and preserve dignity.

While conflicting opinions exist on whether or not workplaces should drug test, many workplaces do have mandatory drug testing. Typically, employers tend to administer saliva tests, as it has been the most efficient and reliable approach.

Fingerprint drug testing could replace and even outperform saliva testing in all of these environments.

The new method of drug testing has multiple advantages because it is:

• Efficient
• Non-invasive
• Low cost
• Accurate
• Portable
• Hygienic

Fingerprint testing can be done immediately and in-person without any restrooms or outsourcing to a laboratory for results. Urine or blood samples create a biohazard waste issue, as those samples have to be disposed of according to specific guidelines. The portable fingerprint detection device has a cartridge that can easily be disposed of with regular waste. Thedevice itselfcosts a few thousand dollars, and each cartridge is priced affordably. However, the only fingerprint drug screen system that is currently available for purchase is made for forensic use only.

The Technology

After ingestion, the body processes whatever substance it has taken in and secretes metabolites into the blood, saliva, sweat, and urine. Because these secretions are specific enough to identify the chemical or drug ingested, identifying them through fingerprint analysis is fairly easy. The sweat that is present on the tip of someone’s finger has enough material to accurately determine what drugs a person has recently ingested.

It can identify the antibodies that are associated with certain kinds of drugs. When a fingerprint is scanned and detects these antibodies, it signals the reader and reports the results. The currently available devices use touchscreen technology and display results on a screen within a few minutes of testing.

The unit itself is currently about the size of a small printer. Individual cartridges are used for each test. Additional accessories are currently available, including a printer to provide a physical record of the performed tests.

An important caveat of the current fingerprint drug screening technology is that, even in the case of a positive result, additional evidence is required to verify that the person tested has indeed used the drugs they tested positive for. This means that in its current state, this technology still requires confirmation from laboratory services.

The Uses

Historically, only blood and urine were trusted to provide reliable drug use information. The current system of collecting and analyzing saliva samples is an improvement, as it can be done by a police officer and in multiple environments. Saliva tests vary in complexity and may or may not test for a wide variety of drugs. Saliva tests can be purchased in any number of consumer-facing stores and used by employers or other people to test alcohol and a variety of drugs.

Drug test and fingerprints may be a vastly superior alternative to saliva testing for many reasons. Gleaning accurate reports from saliva require testing within an optimal window of time after drugs have been consumed. Saliva tests can also be prepared for and maybe even cheated with mouthwash or other hygiene practices.

Fingerprint testing for drug use is reliable, simple and non-invasive. This practice can be performed roadside, in a clinic or in a home. The variety of applications is a meaningful aspect of the usefulness of this device. The more ways that testing can be reliably and efficiently performed, the better. Fingerprint testing has been proven effective in detecting many drugs, including the following:

• Cocaine
• Opioids
• Methamphetamine
• Cannabis or marijuana
• Heroin

Having the right information is a vital component of enforcing the law as well as supporting recovery.

Originally published by the Centre for Justice Innovation.

We spoke to Paul Yates, from Intelligent Fingerprinting, about a new innovative and less invasive approach to drug testing. 

Please can you explain what the fingerprint-based drug screening system is?

The fingerprint-based drug screening system is a quick, hygienic and easy-to-use approach to drug testing that works by analysing fingerprint sweat to detect drug use.

Several drug screening cartridges are available, including the DSC 5-Plus which screens for opiates, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis, and the DSC 8-Plus which screens for opiates, methadone, benzodiazepines and buprenorphine.

How is this different to other types of testing, and what are its advantages? 

Fingerprint-based drug testing provides a quick and easy, non-invasive and dignified alternative to traditional point-of-care drug testing methods such as saliva and urine testing. As the system is portable it can be easily taken out for testing – at a client’s home for example – for spot check adherence to court orders, or to avoid vulnerable / shielding clients having to come into busy offices.

Key differences include:

• Support for social distancing during the pandemic: Fingerprint-based drug testing directly addresses hygiene and social distancing concerns
• Speed: Fingerprint sample collection takes seconds, with screening results delivered in minutes
• Convenience: The system is portable and fingerprint testing is quick and easy to perform at any time, in almost any location
• Dignified: Fingerprint drug testing is dignified for both the tester and the client
• Hygienic: Fingerprint sample collection is non-invasive and non-biohazardous
• Cost-effective: There’s no need for specialist same-gender collectors, specially prepared collection facilities or clinical waste disposal for used cartridges. Organisations can run their testing programmes themselves – eliminating the high costs incurred when using third party collection services
  ​​​​​

What kind of results does the test give you?

The digital screen on the DSR-Plus reader displays a negative or non-negative screening result for each drug in the test within 10 minutes.

For organisations such as Family Drug and Alcohol Courts there is a requirement for parents to agree to take part in regular drug testing in order to maintain child custody. Intelligent Fingerprinting’s Drug Screening System is very applicable for this type of testing as its shorter detection ‘window’ screens for possible drug use in the day prior to parents’ regular meetings at council premises.

The Intelligent Fingerprinting system also provides a preliminary screening result. Should an initial screen prove positive for one of the four drugs tested – in contravention of a court order – two further samples for confirmation are sent away to a laboratory – to confirm the initial screening results.

What do the people who are tested with it think of it compared to other methods?

“The fingerprint test is quick to administer, non-intrusive, provides immediate results and, given the challenges faced by Children’s Services budgets, is relatively inexpensive when compared with other forms of drug testing. The response from parents has been overwhelmingly positive, with more parents seeking early help and voluntarily disclosing drug use”
Harrow Council

How and where will this technology be made available?

Intelligent Fingerprinting’s drug testing solution is available now. For further information, call Intelligent Fingerprinting on 01223 941941 or email [email protected]

Originally Published in Medical Device Network.

Intelligent Fingerprinting has made a name for itself in the world of illegal drugs, with a test that can be used to screen for substances like cocaine and MDMA in the eccrine sweat of the fingertips. Now, the company is looking into converting this test to screen for Covid-19. Verdict Medical Devices speaks to Intelligent Fingerprinting executive chairman Philip Hand to learn more.

Routine tests for illegal drugs have historically used urine samples or oral swabs to screen for substances like cocaine or MDMA, from rehabilitation settings to the criminal justice system. Both of these techniques have their caveats, but UK-based firm Intelligent Fingerprinting has developed an alternative route, using the eccrine sweat found on the fingertips. In the age of Covid-19, the test is finding a new application screening for the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Intelligent Fingerprinting, which is headquartered in Cambridge, uses lateral flow assay technology with fluorescence-labelled antibodies to selectively detect specific drugs and their metabolites. All it takes is a single fingerprint. The test subject simply pushes down on a drug screening cartridge, before a tamper-evident cover slides across and locks their fingerprint into place. The sample is then inserted into the DSR-Plus, a machine designed to scan eccrine sweat from the fingerprint sample, and in just ten minutes it can display an on-screen result.

“We brought that system to market commercially in 2018,” says Intelligent Fingerprinting executive chairman Philip Hand. “We sell that product to workplace testing customers – especially in safety-critical markets like construction and transportation – and the medical market, where people are looking at drug rehabilitation, to see whether somebody’s taken an opiate or whether they’ve taken their methadone. We also sell into the criminal justice side of things, so police and probation services are looking to use the product.”

Intelligent Fingerprinting during Covid-19

The Covid-19 crisis has now opened up a new route for Intelligent Fingerprinting. Instead of amphetamines and opiates, the company is looking into repurposing its technology to screen for the novel coronavirus.

The Intelligent Fingerprinting team is starting out by testing oral fluid samples on the screening cartridges. To do so, it’s using the archive of verified nasal and throat swab samples stored at Imperial College London.

The virus is already known to be present in oral fluid, while a question mark still hangs over its presence in eccrine sweat. If the DSR-Plus can be remodelled to detect the virus in oral swabs with sufficient specificity and sensitivity, then the researchers will know if scaling down to fingerprint testing for Covid-19 is possible.

Intelligent Fingerprinting’s test will be an antigen test, designed to find direct traces of the virus to determine whether or not a person is actively infected.

“We’re probably two or three weeks away from putting the test into a physical cartridge to allow us to then go and do that initial verification work,” says Hand. “We could place these instruments in various establishments – care homes, business, airports – and test people.”

A busy year ahead

Alongside the potential new use case for its pre-existing platform, Intelligent Fingerprinting has noticed a renewed interest in its current technology. Due to social distancing requirements, collecting the usual samples for routine recreational drug testing has become much more difficult, but a fingerprint test can allow these screenings to carry on as normal.

UK drug dependency clinic Change Grow Live has now acquired 50 of Intelligent Fingerprinting’s units to roll out nationally, allowing people to be more socially distanced when drug testing is taking place. While companies across all sectors are struggling in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the nature of Intelligent Fingerprinting’s technology is allowing it to weather the crisis with confidence.

Hand says: “When we saw Covid happening and we furloughed some of our staff, we thought we were going to be bunkering down. But all our staff are off furlough now and they’re actively working, either at home if they can, or in the office if they’re doing research on the Covid program, or manufacturing for customer delivery. I think 2020 is going to continue to be quite busy for us.”

Originally published by Mobi Health News

The test uses a portable analysis unit to detect the virus in sweat.

UK diagnostics firm Intelligent Fingerprinting and Imperial College London have joined forces to develop a simple 10-minute COVID-19 fingerprint test.

The two organisations plan to pool resources to accelerate the development and validation of the test, which could potentially be used by non-medical staff in settings such as care homes and workplaces.

They will utilise Intelligent Fingerprinting’s existing technology – which features highly sensitive lateral flow technology and fluorescence measurement techniques within a portable test reader – to create a “point-of-care” test that allows COVID-19 testing to be carried out by non-medical professionals.

The test works by collecting fingerprint sweat onto a small test cartridge for analysis. This is then read by a portable DSR-Plus analysis unit, which provides a positive or negative result on-screen in 10 minutes.

Researchers at the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College will work with Intelligent Fingerprinting to validate its testing approach and accelerate development.

Why it Matters

A fingerprint-based system could play a significant role in enabling rapid coronavirus testing at the point of care, by reducing the time needed to deliver a positive or negative COVID-19 result.

As the Intelligent Fingerprinting system uses sweat, rather than nasal or oral fluid samples, it is hygienic, non-invasive and does not result in any hazardous biological waste.

The Larger Context

Intelligent Fingerprinting introduced its fingerprint drug test system in 2017, which has been used in safety-critical workplace environments such as construction, transport and shipping, as well as in specialist application areas such as detecting drug mules at airports or by traffic police and coroners.

Meanwhile, Dutch biotech startup ViroTact has secured funding for its portable test that it says can detect COVID-19 within 30 seconds. The firm is using platform technology to develop its point-of-care test CoviTact, which identifies the virus through the presence of an essential virus-coded protease in a patient sputum sample.

German diagnostics and medical imaging firm Siemens Healthineers has also announced that it is working on an antibody test, which could be available by the end of May.

On The Record

Intelligent Fingerprinting Executive Chairman Philip Hand said: “Bringing together our joint expertise will greatly enhance the potential of delivering this ground-breaking testing solution in a meaningful timeframe.”

Lord Darzi, director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, said: “Adding rapid point of care testing capacity would help us to get much closer to understanding the spread of the virus. Fingerprint testing using a portable system would also be particularly valuable in supporting simple and easy testing by non-medically trained staff at multiple sites across the UK, such as care homes and workplaces.”

Originally published in News Medical Life Sciences.

Cocaine is a powerful and addictive stimulant made from coca plant leaves, which is native to South America. In the past urine and saliva tests are used to detect cocaine use. Now, a new fingerprint test can detect whether people have taken the drug or just handled it.

A team of researchers at the University of Surrey has used a new technology known as high-resolution mass spectrometry, which can detect drug and metabolite traces in sweat collected from fingerprints. The new approach can detect the traces of cocaine on human skin, even after the person has washed his hands. Further, it’s smart enough to tell if the person has taken the drug or just touched it.

Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the team conducted experiments to test if it’s possible to perform drug testing painlessly and precisely using a single fingerprint sample. The test may help in identifying users without the need for a blood, saliva, or urine sample.

The fingerprint test

The researchers gathered fingerprints from participants who sought treatment at drug rehabilitation clinics, who had reported cocaine use in the past 24 hours. Fingerprints were collected and the team asked the participants to wash their hands with soap and water. Another fingerprint test was done to get samples from drug non-users who touched cocaine.

The new test can be used to see if a person has taken the drug or just touched it. The test picks up on benzoylecgonine, a molecule that the body excretes through the skin when a person ingested cocaine. It’s also found in street cocaine.

The test involves having the person press his finger on a specialized paper for about ten seconds. The team analyzed the paper using mass spectrometry to see if there is cocaine or benzoylecgonine.  Further, in the 86 samples, the fingerprinting technique was about 95 percent accurate and the team found that they were able to detect cocaine use up to 48 hours after ingestion or contact.

Unlike blood tests, cocaine use can be detected with the fingerprint analysis in less than two minutes.

“A fingerprint is a great way to test for drugs as it is so quick and efficient to collect. Using our methodology, it is possible to analyze a fingerprint sample for drugs in less than 2 minutes,” Dr. Min Jang, one of the study authors, said.

Faster and easier way to test cocaine use

The fingerprint test promises results in less than two minutes, saving time in testing cocaine use. The new method can be used in the future as a forensic tool to detect the presence of cocaine in fingerprints found in crime scenes, or by police officers in cases of drug driving.

Aside from illicit drugs, the team found they can also test for traces of other medicines.

“We are excited about the possibilities for fingerprint drug testing. In addition to illicit drugs, we have found that we can detect pharmaceutical drugs in fingerprints, and we are keen to see if we can use this to help patients to check that their medication is being delivered at the right dose,” Dr. Catia Costa from the University of Surrey explained.

A successful and commercially available fingerprint drug screening system uses lateral flow assay technology and fluorescence-labeled antibodies to detect traces of specific drugs in sweat on the skin. It’s already available, thanks to Intelligence Fingerprinting, which also provide fingerprint-based laboratory confirmation services using Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry methods.

“This University of Surrey laboratory study into cocaine testing using experimental high-resolution mass spectrometry techniques validates the approach Intelligent Fingerprinting took when originally commercializing our portable fingerprint-based drug screening system for use at the point-of-care,” Professor David Russell, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Intelligent Fingerprinting said.

Because our commercially-available test detects both cocaine traces and benzoylecgonine—the major metabolite of cocaine—our customers have been successfully using fingerprint-based drug tests since the Summer of 2017 to determine whether cocaine has actually been taken,” he added.

Orginally published in News Medical Life Sciences.

An experimental fingerprint detection approach can identify traces of cocaine on human skin, even after someone has washed their hands – and the test is also smart enough to tell whether an individual has actually consumed the class A drug, or simply handled it.

In a paper published in Nature Publishing Group’s Scientific Reports, a series of experiments by the University of Surrey detail how it is possible to carry out drug testing accurately and painlessly using a single fingerprint sample. For drug testing, it is necessary to be able to distinguish those who have handled cocaine from those who have ingested it because the legal ramifications are different (for example, consider drug driving) – the new research demonstrates that this is possible for the first time using high resolution mass spectrometry techniques.

A successful, commercially-available fingerprint drug screening system, using lateral flow assay technology and fluorescence-labeled antibodies to selectively detect specific drugs or their metabolites in eccrine sweat collected from fingerprints, is already available for point of care use from Intelligent Fingerprinting – who also offer a fingerprint-based laboratory confirmation service which uses Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry techniques.

The team, from University of Surrey, Forensic Science Ireland, National Physical Laboratory and Intelligent Fingerprinting, took fingerprints from people seeking treatment at drug rehabilitation clinics who had testified to taking cocaine during the previous 24 hours. Fingerprints were collected from each patient, and the participants were then asked to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water before giving another set of fingerprints. This same process was used to collect samples from a pool of drug non-users who had touched street cocaine.

The researchers at Surrey used their world-leading experimental fingerprint drug testing approach (based on rapid, high resolution mass spectrometry) to cross-reference the information from the drug non-users who had touched cocaine with that of volunteers who testified ingesting it. They found that a molecule produced in the body when cocaine is ingested, benzoylecgonine, is essential in distinguishing those who have consumed the class A drug from those who have handled it. Benzoylecgonine was not present in samples from drug non-users, even after touching street cocaine and then washing their hands.

Dr. Min Jang said:

“A fingerprint is a great way to test for drugs as it is so quick and efficient to collect. Using our methodology, it is possible to analyze a fingerprint sample for drugs in less than 2 minutes”.

Dr. Catia Costa from the University of Surrey said:

“We are excited about the possibilities for fingerprint drug testing. In addition to illicit drugs, we have found that we can detect pharmaceutical drugs in fingerprints and we are keen to see if we can use this to help patients to check that their medication is being delivered at the right dose.”

Dr. Melanie Bailey from the University of Surrey said:

“We think this research is really significant as our laboratory test using high resolution mass spectrometry can tell the difference between a person who has touched a drug and someone who has actually consumed it – just by taking their fingerprints.”

Professor David Russell, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Intelligent Fingerprinting, said:

“This University of Surrey laboratory study into cocaine testing using experimental high resolution mass spectrometry techniques validates the approach Intelligent Fingerprinting took when originally commercializing our portable fingerprint-based drug screening system for use at the point-of-care. Because our commercially-available test detects both cocaine traces and benzoylecgonine – the major metabolite of cocaine – our customers have been successfully using fingerprint-based drug tests since the Summer of 2017 to determine whether cocaine has actually been taken.”

Originally published by Sky News.

New fingerprint test can identify cocaine use

Using high resolution mass spectrometry, the new technology can figure out who has been taking cocaine.

A new fingerprint test can identify whether people have taken or handled cocaine.

Researchers at the University of Surrey explained their methods for accurate drug testing using a fingerprint sample in the Scientific Reports journal.

To do this they use a technology known as high resolution mass spectrometry, which can detect traces of drugs and their metabolites in sweat collected from fingerprints.

A commercial version of the test is already available from Intelligence Fingerprinting, and is used by Peterborough Council as well as the Wilco Group construction firm.

The team took fingerprints from people seeking treatment at drug rehabilitation clinics who had taken cocaine in the last 24 hours.

The participants were then told to wash their hands with soap and water before giving another set of fingerprints.

According to the scientists, a molecule produced in the body as a metabolite of cocaine, Benzoylecgonine, could be found in the tests of people even after they had washed their hands.

This chemical was not present in samples from people who had not consumed the drug.

According to the Home Office’s drug misuse statistics, powder cocaine use has been consistently on the rise since 2012-13, with 2.9% of Britons aged 16 to 59 using it in the past year.

The cocaine market in London alone is now estimated to be worth £1bn a year, according to researchers at King’s College London.

Studying waste products in water, the scientists found an average of 23kg of the Class A drug was being consumed every day in London – twice the amount of any other European city.

Experts say cocaine use in the UK is much greater than previously thought after thousands of drug users admitted taking the drug on a regular basis.