Bakar, Nur Syafawati Abu
(2020)
A study on the physical Insults on drugs For forensic investigation.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Drug is medicine or substance which have its effect when it introduced to the
body. It was designed in natural or synthetic substance to produce a specific set of
psychological effects on the human body or animals but when it misused, it’s become
unlawful which called an illicit drug. The World Drug Report (2019) was reported a
global overview of the latest estimates and trends in the supply, use and health
consequences of illicit drugs. It represents the largest volume of criminal cases
examined by forensic science laboratories. This study was aimed at determining the
effect of physical insults on the detection of drugs. Paracetamol (PCM) is one of the
possible adulterants in illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin. In this study, seventytwo
samples from two brands of paracetamol were examined physically to determine
their colours, weight and dimension. Packaged using respective glass containers,
plastic bag and paper wrap, and were exposed to four types of physical insults
including shaking, putting in the car, handbag and pocket pants. Any physical changes
due to physical insults were determined. All packaging materials were also extracted
and analysed using gas chromatography - flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) to
detect the presence of paracetamol. From this study, it was shown that the types of
packaging and the physical insult could change the physical characteristics of the
tablets drugs. Packaging the drugs in glass containers introduced more insults to the
drug samples as compared to other types of packaging. In terms of physical insults,
the presence of drugs possessed a high possibility to be detected on those containers
used to keep the drugs. On the other side, it is not good for drug packaging because it
introduces to sample damage. Besides, the paper used to wrap the tablet drugs were
detected with drugs when they are kept in the pocket pants for a duration of time
compared to the plastic bag which introduces less in physical insult. Plastic bag is the
best type of packaging for a drug. This comparative information had offered beneficial
information in forensic investigation to identify the forensic evidence with high
potential to give a positive indication of drugs, as well as the most appropriate
procedure in drug handling to maximise the detection of drugs.
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