•Depressants slow down the central nervous system.
•Law enforcement and forensic scientists often have to test for during a crime investigation, is alcohol. There are restrictions on alcohol use, such as the age of the user or the amount that can be consumed for certain activities, such as driving a vehicle. In some cases, investigators and forensic scientists will want to know whether a victim consumed alcohol before death to help them better understand what may have happened.
•Barbiturates are another form of depressants. They are often referred to as “downers,” as they tend to relax the individual and produce sleep.
•Some barbiturates are used for medical reasons, but they can also be abused by individuals for whom the drugs have not been prescribed. Some of these drugs may be referred to by their slang terms, which often relate to the color of the pills (such as “reds” or “yellow jackets”).
•Stimulants speed up the central nervous system.
•One common type of stimulant is amphetamines, which are also known as “uppers.” When injected, drugs with methamphetamine produce a euphoria or high for several hours. After this wears off, the individual may be exhausted and depressed, which increases the desire for the next hit of the drug. Some forms of methamphetamine are also smoked, similar to crack cocaine.
•Cocaine is another stimulant drug. Cocaine is extracted from the coca plant, which is found in tropical areas of Asia and South America. The drug was once heralded as a medical drug. One form of cocaine that has gained usage is crack cocaine, also known as crack. To produce crack, regular cocaine is mixed with baking soda and water and heated. After drying, the substance can be broken into chunks, which are smoked. Both cocaine and crack produce feelings of euphoria by stimulating the pleasure center of the brain. As with methamphetamine, the highs produced are followed by depression. The highs followed by the lows are one of the reasons some individuals who are introduced to the drug become addicts.
•Some drugs can change the ways that individuals think and perceive the world around them. This is the hallmark of hallucinogen drugs, which alter an individual’s mood, perceptions, or thought.
•The most commonly used drug in this category today is marijuana. Although marijuana is legal for medical purposes in some states, it remains the most widely used illegal drug in the United States. Marijuana is a product of the cannabis plant and it was first introduced into the United States in the early 1900s, although it had been used in other parts of the world for several thousand years. It can produce a sense of well-being and relaxation and an alteration in sensory perception.
•Another hallucinogen is lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. LSD was first produced from ergot, a fungus that is found on some plants and grasses. Even a small amount of the drug will produce vivid hallucinations and a change in mood. LSD is sometimes mixed with another hallucinogen, phencyclidine, or PCP. As it can be produced with a fairly simple process, PCP labs have sprung up in many areas and can be hard to detect.
•Another category of drugs that forensic scientists have to test for and identify is club drugs. Club drugs are synthetic drugs that are typically used in bars, nightclubs, raves, and other gatherings. Some of these drugs have become popular in these settings because they are thought to enhance or improve the experience, although they also have side effects and dangers. Many of these drugs are used primarily by teens and young adults.
•The settings of raves and nightclubs also support the use of these drugs. Their small, often tablet form make the drugs easy to conceal, and with so many people dancing and moving, individuals who take the drugs are often not as noticeable as they might be in another setting even when experiencing the effects of the drug.
•Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), or Ecstasy, as it is more commonly known, is one of the most popular club drugs. Originally patented as an appetite suppressant, this synthetic drug produces feelings of happiness as well as hallucinations. Chronic use of the drug has serious effects on the body, including kidney failure, stroke, and seizures.
• Another drug found in the club scene that produces feelings of happiness and hallucinations is ketamine (also known as Vitamin K or Special K), which is also used as an anesthesia.
•Several club drugs also have a reputation as being used during crimes such as rape, sexual assault, and robbery.
•These two drugs are GHB and Rohypnol; both are colorless, odorless drugs that can be easily slipped into someone’s drink without the person noticing.
•GHB tends to produce drowsiness, dizziness, and headache.
•Rohypnol produces a loss of consciousness, muscle relaxation, and a loss of memory about what happens after one has consumed the drug.
•The effects of the drugs can be increased when they are accompanied by alcohol, which would also be commonly consumed in the club atmosphere.
Drug Samples and Collecting Drug Evidence
•Forensic scientists who test for illicit drugs will need a sample in order to determine whether a person was exposed to a drug or whether a substance found is a drug.
• If a person is being tested to see whether he or she has been exposed to a drug (voluntarily or involuntarily), there are several different ways that a sample can be obtained.
•Generally, traces of drugs will be present in urine, saliva, blood, and hair for a specific amount of time, depending on the drug used. Some of these samples, such as hair samples, can be taken from living or deceased individuals.
•When working with a body, a forensic scientist may turn to the stomach contents or some of the organs of the body, such as the liver and spleen, for the presence of drugs or alcohol. Parts of the eye can also be used.
• In addition to the body itself, forensic scientists may examine bacteria, maggots, and other organisms that have fed on the decomposing body, as these organisms may have evidence of drugs that the individual consumed before death.
•Each of the different ways of obtaining a sample has advantages and disadvantages. For example, a blood sample can often reveal the presence of drugs or alcohol and it reflects the level at the time that the blood sample was taken.
•Samples can also be obtained from hair, as hair can show traces of drug use for some time after consumption. Normal hair grows about 1 to 1.5 cm (or around half an inch) a month. Forensic scientists can take a cross section of someone’s hair and determine the approximate time frame when particular drugs were used.
•However, forensic scientists are also limited by what type of sample might be available to them and how quickly some samples must be obtained in order for them to be useful. The particular storage or packing techniques used depend on the type of substance that is found. In some cases, the container that the drug was initially found in will be sufficient to prevent any cross-contamination or loss of evidence. A pill bottle or plastic bag containing possible drugs might be placed in an evidence bag and marked with the chain of custody and other information.
•One of the important steps in collecting drug evidence that plays a role in later testing is the relay of information from those on the crime scene to those in the forensic laboratory. The forensic scientists may gain a better idea about the type of drug that they may be dealing with and the tests that they might have to do if they have more information about what was found at the crime scene. This may include where the drug was found, the conditions that it was found in, and the results of any drug screening tests that might have been done at the crime scene.
Identifying Drugs
•Forensic scientists may be presented with powders, pills, liquids, syringes, and other materials and tools used in the illegal drug trade (not to mention the drugs that might be present that are prescribed medications or even over-the-counter materials).
•While forensic scientists may be able to make some assessments based on what something looks like, there is often work to be done beyond this. For example, many “street” drugs may be in containers without any designation about what is inside.
•Many of these drugs also contain other materials along with the actual drug, such as quinine, sugar, or starch. Forensic scientists have to separate these different materials as they analyze the drugs brought to them in the lab, and they may find any number of materials or substances with the drug.
•Forensic scientists also have to be able to definitively identify the drugs present. They must be able to present evidence that is reliable and accurate in a court of law. Often, the case against a person will rest on the information provided by forensic scientists. For example, if someone has been arrested for drug possession, law enforcement will need to prove that the person possessed drugs and not a packet of sugar or other legal substance. If someone is arrested for heroin possession, the forensic scientist must be able to prove to a scientific degree of certainty that the drug found was indeed heroin. Substance Analysis
•Once a potential drug substance enters the lab, the first step that a forensic scientist uses is a process of narrowing down the possibilities.
• Screening tests are those that are nonspecific and help a forensic scientist identify several particular drugs that the substance is likely to be.
•Screening tests are also sometimes called spotter tests or field tests, since some of them may be used at the crime scene as well as the laboratory.
•With screening tests, a forensic scientist will often take small samples of the substance and subject those samples to simple tests.
•Generally, the tests involve adding a single chemical to the drug and observing the changes that happen.
•These types of tests are useful when they provide positive results and when they provide negative results, since the forensic scientist can then rule out certain types of drugs from the possibilities.
•However, it should be noted that screening tests are not used to provide proof of a particular drug, but rather that the substance is likely to be one of several different drugs.
•After some of the possibilities have been reduced, it is time for the forensic scientist to discover exactly which drug the substance is.
•Confirmatory tests are those that prove a drug’s identity. In order to confirm the identity of a suspected drug sample, forensic scientists use a range of tests.
•Generally, due to time and financial constraints, forensic scientists will focus on the tests that are most likely to give them the best results given the particular sample of evidence rather than using all of the different tests on each sample.
