HOUSTON — Drugs have been found on envelopes and letters in jails and prisons across the Houston area. To combat the problem, the Houston DEA Office has a new drug testing tool.
Until now, inmates don’t know if the mail and packages they get have potentially deadly drugs like fentanyl. This new tool can safely identify a substance without exposing an officer to the drug and its harmful effects.
Instead of cutting into a substance, an agent can take a swab of an item, put it on a test strip and into the new drug identification device. In about 30 seconds, it can detect what the drug is and its effects.
Lee Nash has worked with the DEA for 27 years. He said this state-of-the-art technology greatly improves safety for law enforcement and puts a halt to drug trafficking within the prison system.
“Using this particular device, we’ve identified inmates are working, transporting and importing letters and other contraband with trace amounts of K2, synthetic marijuana, as well as fentanyl,” he said.
Thanks to the device, the DEA has helped many local agencies in drug investigations. It is one of the few agencies in town that has access to this device that can get results in 30 seconds compared to wait times as long as two months for a lab test.