NARCOSIS · Non-tArgeted foRensic multidisCiplinary platfOrm for inveStigatIon of drug-related fatalitieS

The rapidly changing nature of the New Psychoactive Substance (NPS) market and the overall large number of substances that need to be monitored have presented challenges for early warning activities in recent years. Since the number of illicit drug classes is growing exponentially over time, the current challenge is no longer to search substances during an investigation, but rather to provide a sort of preliminary identification of the substance as illicit, i.e., to tag it as such, especially when it is a new type of drug. Today several instruments equipped with up-to-date libraries allow for the rapid identification of drugs of abuse. However, this approach suffers from four main problems: 1) The instruments’ libraries are not updated regularly; 2) The instruments do not easily overcome the matrix effect; 3) NPSs are trafficked and sold in smaller doses, making their detection and identification more difficult; 4) Routine methods of analysis during forensic analysis are no longer effective in screening drugs of abuse, the parent drugs but also their metabolites, due to the lack of structural information and commercial reference materials. NARCOSIS (Non-tArgeted foRensic multidisCiplinary platfOrm for inveStigatIon of drug-related fatalitieS) will provide a set of features for fast, robust, and reliable multidisciplinary approach to harmonise forensic investigations by means of an up-to-date and updateable diagnostic platform with the following key features: 1) A set of selected orthogonal instruments operable both on-site and in laboratories (Raman/SERS, IR, HSI, HRMS) will be adapted to be used with the NARCOSIS platform; 2) Build a comparable and shareable (cross-organisation) reference spectra (meta-spectra) database for faster detection and identification of drugs of abuse; 3) Create an AI-assisted spectra management and integration toolkit for analytical measurements to support the EU Early Warning System to rapidly detect, assess and respond to NPS.