Technician Tools

To provide safe, reliable drug checking, technicians must not only know how to use the different types of testing equipment, but also how to handle samples safely and how to accurately interpret and share results. The following resources provide information on how to ensure a high standard of service and safety.

Technician manuals and guidelines

  • Common Compounds in FTIR Drug Checking in BC (2025) This guide provides drug checking technicians in B.C. with a resource for understanding and identifying substances using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.
  • Drug Checking Technician Manual, Version 2 (2022) This manual provides basic instruction on drug-checking history, procedures, protocols, and methods used by the BCCSU drug checking project. It is intended to supplement (not substitute) in-person training for new drug-checking technicians. Version 1 (2019) of the Manual is available in Français.
  • Colours and Textures Guidelines (2019) This guide contains descriptions and photographs of the different textures and colours of compounds that are commonly found when testing drugs, and their typically associated drugs. Available in Français.

 

Test strip procedures

Cuts and buff information

Limitations of FTIRs