12 November 2024
Through the support of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), University Philippines (UP) upgraded its Drugs of Abuse Research Laboratory (DARL) to boost contribution in strengthening the Philippine government’s drug abuse identification, control, and neutralization efforts.
UP DARL now utilizes state-of-the-art equipment, currently only available in UP Manila College of Pharmacy, to identify a wider class of drug compounds including new party drugs in real time to enhance the illegal drug testing of law enforcement agencies.
Today, at UP Manila, CHED Secretary Popoy De Vera with UP Manila Chancellor Michael Tee, unveiled the marker of the UP DARL and checked the new device provided to the university.
“CHED recognized the expertise of UP Manila in chemical and health sciences and we want this expertise to be at the service of the government. The UP DARL will provide information to help the government better address the drug problem in the country, taking into consideration a public health and human rights approach to the issue,” De Vera said.
“We thank CHED Chair De Vera for supporting the establishment of the DARL. More than a laboratory to test drugs, this will serve as a teaching-learning facility where future experts will train. We hope that through this, we can help replicate the expertise in regional centers and other state colleges and universities so they too can assist our government in fighting the proliferation of illegal drugs,” Tee said.
Through the CHED- Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes (CHED-PCARI) program, the Commission gave ₱160,632, 193.76 million to fund the capacity-building and procurement of equipment for the UP DARL.
CHED invested a total of ₱112,608,000 million for the provision of various equipment that will help in identifying drug abuse including new psychoactive substances.
The laboratory is capable of identifying 110 types of drug compounds compared to available test kits that can only identify 10 types of drugs, and reduce the waiting time for test results from weeks to a day.
The laboratory utilizes Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-QTOF/MS) to analyze new designer drugs in the hair and point-of-care (POCT) device for testing presence of selected new psychoactive substances through urine samples.
UP DARL research and clinical results could also help law enforcement officials to more accurately target the drugs whose supply must be reduced.
Furthermore, the active collaboration of UP DARL with health agencies, clinical, and forensics toxicologists, and addiction medicine doctors will significantly help in managing existing drug abuse cases.
“This is an example of the expertise of the academe at the service of the government. Like what I have been constantly reiterating during my speeches in UP – UP can only and truly realize its mandate as a national university and prove its reputation as the top university in the country if it’s willing to translate their intelligence, skills, and excellence to concrete action that will help the government make a transformative impact on the lives of the Filipino people,” De Vera said.
Since 2019, UP DARL has utilized various technologies for the identification of drugs of abuse and has assisted law enforcement agencies including the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).
(SIGNED)
J. PROSPERO E. DE VERA III, DPA
Chairman
Commission on Higher Education