CHAPTER III

IDENTIFICATION AND EXAMINATION OF DANGEROUS DRUGS

“Drug testing is a form of forensic testing. Drug test results issued should be scientifically, legally and forensically defensible.”

Drug Identification- is a branch of Forensic Chemistry that deals with the scientific examination of drugs and volatile substances.
Usually conducted by a forensic chemist/ chemical officer to determine the presence of dangerous drug on submitted specimens, also
conducts drug test on body fluids of suspected drug pushers and users. Paraphernalia like smoking pipes, tooters and aluminum foils
should also be submitted for examination to determine the presence of dangerous drugs.

Forms of Dangerous Drugs

Tablets
Capsules
Liquid
Powder
Brick or decks of marijuana
Crushed leaves
Uprooted plants

A.Examination of the sample taken from the alleged confiscated Dangerous Drugs

Methods of Examination
 Qualitative Examination
 Quantitative Examination

Steps common to Qualitative and Quantitative methods:

1. Selection of method to be used

2. Physical test
3. Sampling
4. Sample preparation
5. Chemical test
6. Confirmatory examination
7. Calculation and interpretation of dates
8. Drawing of conclusion and writing report

2 phases in the examination of the confiscated Dangerous Drugs

1. Screening test/ Preliminary test (also known as the color test)

Color Reactions:
Cannabis: Duquenois-Levin = violet
Fast Blue B salt = purple red
Cocaine: Cobalt Thiocyanate test or CT test = blue
Scott test or Modified CT test:
Reagent 1 = blue
Reagent 2 = pink
Reagent 3 = blue

Wagner test = brown (specific test for cocaine)

Diazepam: Zimmerman test = reddish purple or pink (some benzodiazepine derivative do not give color with
this test)
Hydrochloric acid = yellow
Vitali-Morin test = yellow orange
Opium: Marquis = violet
Ferric Sulfate = Brownish purple
Mecke = Blue to green
Nitric acid = Orange to red to yellow

CDI 5 DRUG EDUCATION AND VICE CONTROL 1

 Morphine: Marquis = Violet to reddish purple
Codeine: Mecke = Blue to green
Nitric acid = Orange to yellow
Heroin: Mecke = Blue to green
Nitric acid = Yellow to green
Dille: reddish purple (for Barbiturates)
Methampethamine Hydrochloride:
Simon test = Blue
Marquis test = Orange to brown
Ecstacy: Simon test = Blue
Methaqualone and Phencyclidine: CT test = blue
Lysergide or LSD: Ehrlich = violet
Mescaline: Marquis test = Orange
Liebermann = black
Note: It must be noted that Positive results of these test are not conclusive.
2. Confirmatory Test

Chromatography- separation of mixture

 Gas Chromatography
 Thin layer Chromatography
 High- Pressure Liquid Chromatography
Spectroscopy- light is used to identify the sample specimen
 Fourier- Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)- used for the identification of pure organic substances
 Ultra- visible Spectroscopy- used for screening of dangerous drugs in urine specimen.

Examination of the Urine Specimen

 Water soluble drugs- cocaine
 Fat soluble drugs- marijuana
Validity Test for Urine Specimen- to determine the integrity of the samples.
Reasons for Conducting Validity Test
 In cases of unobserved urine collection
 When there is suspicious that the urine specimen has been tampered
Instances when to allow Unobserved Urine Specimen Collection
 When donor is physically unable to go to the laboratory
 When donor is involved in a crime scene
 When donor is involved in post- accident trauma
 When donor is critically ill
Different Types of Tampered Urine Specimen
 Adulterated- not normal physiological concentration
ex. Addition salt, juice, detergent, bleach and other oxidizing adulterants and illicit drugs
 Diluted- less than normal physiological constituents
 Subsituted- switching or replacement of the original sample
Parameters for Validity Tests: Initial and Confirmatory Tests
 Physical characteristics such as color, odor, etc
 Vo;ume
 Temperature
 PH
 Specific gravity
 Nitrites
 Creatinine
 Oxidizing agents
Urine specimen as Invalid
 Adulterated, substituted or diluted
 Improperty collected, handled and stored
 Improperty documented

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