Law enforcement agents, narcotics officers and customs
personnel can now quickly and safely identify the synthetic opioid carfentanil and dozens of additional
emerging drugs with the newest library update for the Thermo Scientific TruNarc handheld narcotics
analyzer. Carfentanil, which is most often used to tranquilize elephants and other large animals, is a fentanyl
analog that is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine and 100 times more powerful than fentanyl.
As part of the software update, the TruNarc analyzer adds 45 new substances, including 14 new forms of
fentanyl, to its onboard library. In addition to carfentanil, the TruNarc analyzer library now includes
acrylfentanyl, the pharmaceutical variants alfentanil and sufentanil, and the fentanyl precursors ANPP and
NPP, of which 50 kilograms were seized in Massachusetts in May 2017. That volume of NPP could be used
to produce 19 million fentanyl pills. TruNarc, designed to allow users to quickly and accurately identify core
drugs of abuse, painkillers and many emerging drug threats, added fentanyl, dibutylone, W-18 and U-47700
to its library as part of earlier updates.
Carfentanil, a transdermal synthetic opioid, is one of the most potent opioids in the world and was the
subject of a Drug Enforcement Administration warning in 2016. New Hampshire and Minnesota have
experienced double-digit fatal overdoses of carfentanil in 2017. Carfentanil has been found mixed with
heroin and fentanyl, and some forms of carfentanil can be accidentally inhaled or absorbed through the
skin, placing first responders at serious risk.
The TruNarc analyzer, which debuted in 2012, is designed to reduce the need for law enforcement
personnel to be exposed to unknown substances in many cases, designed, therefore, to make it safer and
easier to test in the field. Using Raman spectroscopy, a well-established analytical technique, TruNarc is
also designed to allow officers to scan a single sample for multiple narcotics in one non-destructive and
non-contact test, and receive the results within seconds. An increasing number of law enforcement
departments are deploying TruNarc to help limit the need to carry multiple chemical tests and reduce drug
testing backlogs.
