jimtrue.com : school : CJT2141 : 09: Drugs
Posted by Jim True on March 5, 2003 6:00 AM. Last Updated October 22, 2006 9:23 PM
Disclaimer for all material noted here is at the bottom of this web page.
Dependence:
Physiological - Body develops a craving for (opium type drugs)
Psychological - Cocaine, rush or high that the person THINKS they need.
# 1 amount of evidence coming into the Forensic Labs (probably followed closely behind by fingerprints)
In order to be found guilty of drug possession, must determine the IDENTITY of the drug in possession. (Individualized evidence)
70's when drug labs were formed.
Too much of anything can be bad for you.
Pharmaceuticals have much quality control (verified it meets chemical standards)
Drugs from the street do not have these standards.
MONEY is the reason there is such a prevalance of drugs today. As long as Drugs are profitable, there is going to be a demand and a need. Look at prohibition and what it did for the demand for Alcohol.
[either cut out the supply or cut out the demand is the only way to fight it]
ie Manatee County: 80% of the Drug cases are Drug-related.
Categories of Drugs:
Stimulants: gives the body stimulating effect (Caffeine, Cocaine)
#1 COCAINE, Methamphetamine (Ice smokeable form), Amphetamine, Tetramine, Early diet supplements
Depressants: gives the body a depressing effect
-Benzodiazepines (Valium, Librium, Clonopin, Zanex, Rohifnal, Halcyon) : tranquilizers (Usually Schedule IV)
-Barbiturates (Phenobarb, Sleeping pills)
Hallucinogens: Mind altering drugs: LSD, PCP, Marijuana, Ecstasy
PCP, LSD, MDMA (XTC) (Stim/Hall), Marijuana (Dep/Hall),
Narcotics: Pain-killers: Heroin, opium based drugs, darvocet, Methadone
Opium based Drugs: Heroin, Morphine, Codeine, Propoxyphene (Darvon)
Steroids: Muscle-enhancement, another effect further down the road
With any chemical, positive effect there will always be a negative reaction
Some drugs can be in two categories: marijuana: Depressant/hallucinogen; Ecstasy Stimulant/Hallucinogen
For Legal purposes there has been a schedule setup to define and classify Controlled Substances I-IV (Lower the number the worse the legality of the drug):
Controlled Substances (Gov't relates this is a bad drug)
[Penalties also get higher as the number goes down]
I: No medical use; high abuse potential
Heroin, LSD, Ecstasy (MDMA), Quaaludes, Morphine?, GHB (now a Schedule I, was IV)
II: Limited Medical Use; High Abuse Potential:
Cocaine, Ritalin, Codeine (unless diluted with tylenol), Methadone
III: Some Abuse; Some Medical
Vicadin (Hydrocodon - mixed with Acetaminophen), Darvocet, Steroids
IV: Some Abuse; High Medical
Tranquilizers, Rohifnal (Roofies), Valium
V: Low Abuse; High Medical
Cough syrups
Harmful substances, unlawful use of a dangerous substance
(Nitrous Oxide, Acetone, sniffers)
Pills in improper containers can be seized; if you can produce the bottle or the prescription you can get the medications back.
Allergic reactions to drugs: some people can have severe allergic reactions to marijuana.
LSD: Blotter paper, microdot
Heroin: currently 70-80% pure (Rave clubs)
Mushrooms: grow right next to cow dung (often get the wrong mushrooms - toadstools, destroy the liver). Have to make a tea of the mushrooms, gill will usually have purple hue).
Angel Trumpet - Hyoscamin, very closely chemically related to cocaine.
Cocaine comes in two forms - Cocaine HCl (white powder); Cocaine base (Crack), smokeable form (vaporize with heat), cannot dissolve in water.
Crack is in Vapor form - effect is immediate (solid, liquid, gas - Freebasing cocaine is Crack)
Drug Recognition Expert (ignore it -- look for how a person behaves)
ANALYSIS OF DRUGS IN THE LAB:
Screening:
Color Spot Test
UV-VIS Light Specroscopy
Thin Layer Chormatography
Microcrystalline Tests
Gas Chromatography
Structural Determining Test:
IR Spectroscopy
MS (Mass Spectroscopy)
Minimum Standards: 1 of the top 5 Screening Tests, 1 from the lower 2 Structural Determining Tests
Marijuana (Cannabis)
1. Stereoscopic Exam - seeds (tortoise shell appearance), leaves (bear claws), resin pockets. Determine characteristics consistent with marijuana
2. Chemical Color Spot Test - Duquenois-Levine test p.254
[FDLE stops at this point]
3. Thin Layer Chromatography against THC sample
4. Can also do GC/MS (Pinellas does GC/MS instead of TLC)
Packaging: Baggies, Envelopes
Sharps, package properly
Body Fluids, bio-hazard and packaged as such with Bio-Hazard labeling
Growing plant material (mushrooms & marijuana)
- Mushrooms as evidence: double-bagged in paper, FREEZE until analysis. Stop plant from degrading.
- Marijuana as evidence (growing plants): additional penalty of 'cultivation' (to prove cultivation, get a photograph of plant material as still growing, pull out so roots are exposed [cut off roots at the soil level], fold up the plant and package in paper - do not submit the roots, as roots will not contain THC) Dispose of the roots properly or marijuana may grow again.
Qualitative - What is there?
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