People worried about being spiked while out on the town may have had their prayers answered, as a new free app could be used to detect if your drink contains drugs, the Manchester Evening News reports. Smartphone technology may be key in detecting drugs such as GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) according to scientists.
University of the West of England (UWE) student Anselmo Procida has been working on the project with her lecturer Dr Kevin Honeychurch in Bristol. They discovered that illegal substance GHB can be identified by taking a picture of a drink and using a free app to check what colour it is.
If the app detects a particular concentration of purple after adding a simple chemical reagent, it indicates the drink is likely to contain the drug. GHB, often known as 'Liquid Ecstasy', is a Class C drug in the UK. However its availability is restricted, so many are switching to using its alternative gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), which has the same effects as GHB when consumed orally and is legal to buy in the UK.
