To tackle the increasing drug abuse, Hyderabad Police and Telangana State Anti- Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB) has come up with a 15 minute testing kit, which follows lateral flow immunoassay technology. This is in effect since 2025 and now its use is increasing rapidly.
The testing kit is simple to use as it consists of multiple vertical strips, each of which can identify up to 12 substances cocaine, cannabis, opioids, barbiturates, cannabis, amphetamines, methamphetamine among many others. The testing kit consists of a control line (C) and a test line (T), indicating the presence or absence of a particular drug.
ONE LINE- POSITIVE: Visibility of only control line indicates the presence of the corresponding drug making the result positive (drug content is above the cut off limit).
TWO LINES- NEGATIVE: Visibility of both test and control lines indicates the result to be negative (either drug is not detected or is below the cut off level).
As this test can be done as a surprise; the offenders cannot do sample tampering, which ensures a fair checking and evidence production. In a surprise operation, out of the 250 individuals tested; 190 tested positive.
With more stringent rules and extensive patrolling across the country along with similar test across the country, hopefully we will head towards a drug free country. What are your opinions on this 15- minute urine test?