Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41656270›Full record

ArticleHarm reduction journal2026

Street drug monitoring with networked spectrometers powered by machine learning: a pilot study in Ontario, Canada.

Elnaz Aliyari, Cameron Brown, Megan Van Boheemen, Leigh Wardlaw, Talia Storm, Anne Marie Hopkins, Sandy Ezepue, Dean Dewar, Lindsey Sodtke, Kevin McNab and 4 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Harm reduction journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Elnaz AliyariDepartment of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario (Western University), 1151 Richmond Street, ON, N6A 5B7, London, Canada.
Cameron BrownDepartment of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario (Western University), 1151 Richmond Street, ON, N6A 5B7, London, Canada.
Megan Van BoheemenRegional HIV/AIDS Connection, 602 Queens Ave, London, ON, N6B 1Y8, Canada.
Leigh WardlawSanguen Health Center, 130 Victoria St S, Kitchener, ON, N2G 2B5, Canada.
Talia StormPositive Living Niagara, 120 Queenston St, St. Catharines, ON, L2R 2Z3, Canada.
Anne Marie HopkinsOttawa Inner City Health, 5 Myrand Ave, Ottawa, ON, K1N 5N7, Canada.
Sandy EzepueHamilton Urban Core Community Health Center, 430 Cannon Street East, Hamilton, ON, L8L 2C8, Canada.
Dean DewarSandy Hill Community Health Center, 221 Nelson Street, Ottawa, ON, K1N 1C7, Canada.
Lindsey SodtkeGuelph Community Health Centre, 176 Wyndham Street N., Guelph, ON, N1H 8N9, Canada.
Kevin McNabThe Corporation of the County of Grey, 595 9th Avenue East, Owen Sound, ON, N4K 3E3, Canada.
Jillian WatkinsMoyo Health and Community Services, 7700 Hurontario St. #601, Brampton, ON, L6Y 4M3, Canada.
Amy Trinh PhamDepartment of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario (Western University), 1151 Richmond Street, ON, N6A 5B7, London, Canada.
Abe OudshoornArthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, The University of Western Ontario (Western University), 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 5B9, Canada.
François Lagugné-LabarthetDepartment of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario (Western University), 1151 Richmond Street, ON, N6A 5B7, London, Canada. flagugne@uwo.ca.

Funding

Health Canada SUAP 2223-HQ-000095
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Drug-checking services (DCS) provide people who use drugs (PWUD) with crucial information concerning the substances they may consume. The intent of DCS is to reduce harms potentially associated with those substances, by providing evidence-based information about the contents of said substances and possibly influencing PWUD consumption-related behaviors. This pilot project reports on a network of 10 dedicated Raman spectroscopy drug-checking devices, located at various organizations throughout the province of Ontario, Canada. The spectrometers were specifically developed for drug-checking analysis and use machine learning (ML) enabled software to provide participants with automated, real-time results. The same software was also used to collect participants' demographic data and self-reported consumption-related behavior changes. In this work, we report on the results provided by this network over a 14-months period from July 2023 to August 2024 on 7752 samples provided by 5083 participants. On select samples, high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) measurements were also collected to probe the accuracy of the results and quantify variations between the two techniques. Voluntary feedback was also collected from a limited number of participants concerning the potential impact the drug-checking process may have on their consumption-related behaviors.

Indexed as

Illicit DrugsMachine LearningSpectrum Analysis, RamanSubstance Abuse DetectionChromatography, High Pressure LiquidHumansMass SpectrometryOntarioPilot ProjectsIllicit DrugsDrug-checkingMachine learningMass spectrometryRaman spectroscopy

Identifiers

PMID41656270
PMCPMC12961778

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.