ABSTRACT
Drugs and drug analysis form a particularly important forensic topic since a significant portion of all the scientists, who work in forensic laboratories, are employed in drug related analyses. Drug dependence is the primary reason that certain drugs are a major law enforcement problem in the US Society through its laws tries to control the abuse of drugs. The important drugs of abuse can be divided into six basic categories, the first four based on their physiological action: analgesic drugs, stimulants, hallucinogen, depressants, hypnotics, and tranquilizers, club drugs, and athletic performance enhancing drugs. An important adjunct to drug enforcement is the utilization of drug screening tests. A type of confirmatory test that works well on “street” drug samples directly is the microcrystal test. Thin-layer, or gas, chromatography can be used to separate the components of a suspected drug specimen that contains a mixture of compounds.
