Methamphetamine

“ Methamphetamine laboratories ATF alleged to the military that it had evidence of an "active methamphetamine lab" on the premises of the Davidians' residence. Unlike general narcotics seizures, clandestine labs, by their very nature, "present a unique series of hazards and risks to law enforcement personnel." [154] Therefore, an allegation of an active methamphetamine lab should alarm any law enforcement official, because of the extreme safety and health dangers involved. ”

“ The Special Forces paper and the ATF response to it The fourth piece of evidence undermining ATF's claim that a drug lab existed is ATF's own reaction to the Special Forces paper on the methamphetamine lab. Sergeant Fitts testified that he and another Special Forces medic where directed by Major Petree, their Commander, to research and draft a paper on methamphetamine labs. [227] Interviews with Sgt. Fitts revealed that the paper addressed the dangers of methamphetamine labs from both tactical and exposure perspectives. ”

“ Prepare spiking solutions of target analyte and internal standard. Keep solutions refrigerated. Protect solutions from light. a. Target analyte spiking solutions are prepared by diluting the 1000 μg/mL methamphetamine stock solution to 200 μg/mL and 20 μg/mL each in methanol. b. Dilute 1 mL of 1000 μg/mL methamphetamine-D14 stock solution to 10 mL for a 100 μg/mL (0.1 μg/μL) solution. 2.
Desorption solution: 0.1 M sulfuric acid. Add 22 mL conc. sulfuric acid to 4 L deionized water. 3. ”

“ Unlike the circumstances in Harbison, supra, there was enough substance in the plastic bags to weigh and to test. Cindy Moran, a chemist at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, testified that during her drug analysis, one plastic bag contained .2472 grams of methamphetamine and nicotinamide, and the other four plastic bags contained .6367 grams of methamphetamine and nicotinamide. [1] Thus, appellant possessed a total of 0.8839 grams, or 883.9 milligrams, of a methamphetamine-nicotinamide compound. ”

“ Otherwise, a person possessing a pound of ordinary cooking flour containing any indication of methamphetamine would be guilty of possession of a controlled substance. Such a holding eviscerates our holding in Harbison and borders on a strict liability standard.
In my opinion, where the amount of narcotics involved is so small as not to be within the realm of an uninformed layman's knowledge of usability, there must be evidence presented by the State as to its "usability." ”

“ OTHER WIPE METHODS: NIOSH 9106 uses liquid-liquid extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to measure multiple drugs [4] . NIOSH 9111 uses liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) to measure methamphetamine [5] .
NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods (NMAM) , Fifth Edition
Method rev. 1.1.1 METHAMPHETAMINE . . . on Wipes by SPE: METHOD 9109, Issue 1, dated 17 October 2011 - Page 2 of 33
REAGENTS:
EQUIPMENT:
NOTE: See APPENDIX A for special instructions on reagents. 1. Analytes listed in Table 1* 2. Internal standards from those listed in Table 9 3. ”

“ Avoid ring-labeled amphetamine-D5 (CAS 65538-33-2) since the primary (quantification) ion is the same as for amphetamine and GC peaks overlap significantly. Also avoid methamphetamine-D5 (CAS 60124-88-1) since GC peaks significantly overlap and secondary ions for the chlorodifluoroacetyl derivative are not baseline resolved. ”

“ Dangers associated with methamphetamine labs Hazards which law enforcement agents may expect to encounter in clandestine lab operations include exposure to toxic chemicals, explosive and reactive chemicals, flammable agents, irritant and corrosive agents, booby traps, and physical injury from close quarter contact with illegal lab operators. ”

“ Ubiquitous ions (e.g., m/z 73, 91, and 169) are avoided as much as possible. (8) Intentional or unintentional adulterants. For example, phentermine may be added to MDMA and caffeine added to methamphetamine intentionally. Chlorpheniramine is an unintentional adulterant when pseudoephedrine containing chlorpheniramine is used as a methamphetamine precursor. (9) (I$) = Internal standard. The best results are obtained using internal standards that are deuterated analogs of the target analyte, or those that are chemically and structurally similar to the target analytes. ”

“ Gauze in sterile packaging is recommended to minimize the chance for cross-contamination, which can more easily occur with open bulk packaged cotton gauze. 6.
To prevent contamination in the field, another alternative is to pre-wet and insert the gauze wipes into the sample containers off-site. This avoids any possibility of the bottle of methanol or isopropanol becoming contaminated on-site with methamphetamine (or other analytes) . If the wipes were prepared off-site, then remove pre-wetted gauze wipe from sample container, opening only one sample container at a time. ”

“ Treasury documents indicate that two DEA officials were at the Command Post at the Texas State Technical Institute on the day of the raid; but ATF declined the DEA offer of direct assistance from a DEA Clandestine Certified Laboratory Team. [210] Such a lab team is specially trained and certified to "take down" active methamphetamine labs. These teams also have the specialized equipment and tactical training required for methamphetamine lab operations.
e. The precursor chemicals used to produce methamphetamine There are numerous methods to produce methamphetamine. ”

“ REQUIRED EMERGING THREAT RESPONSE PLAN.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall establish and implement an Emerging Threat Response Plan that is specific to methamphetamine in accordance with section 709 (d) of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998 (21 U.S.C. 1708 (d) ) . ”

“ For methamphetamine, the range is 0.05 to 60 μg/sample (sample = 100 cm2 or 1000 cm2) . This method was developed for the analysis of selected drugs and precursors on surfaces in clandestine drug labs. [1, 2] Sampling methodology was tested using wipes on smooth, non-porous surfaces. The APPENDIX contains sampling information for other types of surfaces. INTERFERENCES: No chromatographic interferences detected. Water, surfactants and polyols inhibit derivatization. ”

“ Taken together, our efforts to reduce demand, cut supply, and help people break the chains of addiction are yielding measurable results. Over the past 7 years, marijuana use by young people has dropped by 25 percent. Methamphetamine use by young people is down by 50 percent. And the use of cocaine, hallucinogens, steroids, and alcohol by America's youth are all on the decline. Overall, illegal drug use by Americans is down by 25 percent, meaning we have helped approximately 900,000 young people stay clean. ”

“ In general, if the area wiped was greater than or less than 100 cm2, do not convert value to μg/100 cm2. To avoid confusion, report separately both μg/sample (C) and the total area wiped in cm2 per sample (A) for both discrete and composite samples. EVALUATION OF METHOD: This method was evaluated for methamphetamine over a range of approximately 0.4 μg/sample to 17.8 μg/sample on cotton gauze. These concentration levels represent approximately 3 through 100 times the limit of quantitation (LOQ) level. Results are reported in the Backup Data Report for 9111s [1] . ”

“ Fold the pad, exposed side in, and place in shipping container and seal with cap. NOTE: Keep samples refrigerated (<6 oC) . While methamphetamine and several related amines are stable on the recommended wipe media for at least 7 days at room temperature, refrigeration is recommended as soon as possible (see Table 5) . 4.
Either clean the template before use for the next sample or use a new disposable template. 5.
Label each sample clearly with a unique sample identifier. 6.
Prepare a minimum of two field blanks with one field blank for every ten samples. ”

“ Methanol is superior to isopropanol. Recoveries with isopropanol are greatly improved with a repeat (serial) wipe (11% improvement compared to only about 6% improvement with methanol) . The study and results are reported in the Backup Data Report for NIOSH 9109 [1] . Additional research on surface sample recovery and solvent effectiveness has been reported by Martyny [10, 11] . REFERENCES: [1] Reynolds JM, Siso MC, Perkins JB [2004] . Backup Data Report for NIOSH 9109, Methamphetamine and illicit drugs, precursors, and adulterants on wipes by solid phase extraction, Abridged. ”

“ Illicit drugs:
remains world's second largest producer of illicit opium (estimated
production in 2004 - 292 metric tons, down 40% from 2003 due to
eradication efforts and drought; cultivation in 2004 - 30,900
hectares, a 34% decline from 2003) ; lack of government will to take
on major narcotrafficking groups and lack of serious commitment
against money laundering continues to hinder the overall antidrug
effort; major source of methamphetamine and heroin for regional
consumption ”

“ Prevention of smuggling of methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico. Subtitle C. Enhanced criminal penalties for methamphetamine production and trafficking. Sec. 731. Smuggling methamphetamine or methamphetamine precursor chemicals into the United States while using facilitated entry programs. Sec. 732. Manufacturing controlled substances on Federal property. Sec. 733. Increased punishment for methamphetamine kingpins. ”

“ According to Jackson, this percentage is not reliable enough to establish probable cause, and when considered with the fact that the dog did not give a final indication, it was error for the circuit court to deem the dog reliable when determining whether probable cause existed. We disagree.
Corporal Behnke testified that K-9 Major is trained to detect marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and ecstasy. He explained that he and K-9 Major were trained by Arkansas State Police Canine Coordinator, Roby Rhoads. ”

“ Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or commonly known as "Ecstasy", or by its any other name. - Refers to the drug having such chemical composition, including any of its isomers or derivatives in any form. ”

“ The more highly deuterated an analog, the more it will chromatographically separate from the target analyte, reducing interference from common ions. c. Phentermine and mephentermine have been used as internal standards. Such use is not advised in this method because of their reported occasional use as adulterants in certain illicit drugs such as MDMA. (2) N-Propylamphetamine and MDEA-D6 are only applicable to MDEA and other hindered amines (e.g., fenfluramine and MBDB) due to similar steric hindrance at the nitrogen (N-ethyl or N-propyl substitution) which affects derivatization efficiency. ”

“ Notwithstanding the great difficulty of convincing a person who habitually uses extra stimulants, narcotics, or any medicinal agents, all the way from rum, opium, and tobacco, down to tea, coffee, and saleratus, that they are injuring him at all, as long as he does not feel very ill, yet it ought to be clearly and fully known that every one who is thus addicted to unnatural habits, and being thus addicted is seized with disease of any kind and from any cause whatever, is certain to have that disease with greater severity than if his habits had been, from the first, perfectly correct or normal. ”

“ Frequent intoxication with alcohol, opium, coca, or haschisch, brings about a structural degeneration of the nerve-material; the consequences of which are to be seen in delirium, softening of the brain, and other forms of general paralysis. "By degrees the nervous centres, especially those on which the particular narcotic used has the most powerful influence, become degraded in structure." A permanent pathological state is thus induced, in which the production of a given narcotic effect is not so easy as in the healthy organism. ”

“ The temptation to use drugs is, like the fascination of being pitied and petted, very great, as alcohol, chloral, or opium often acts like magic for the time being, and there is generally a craving for one or all of them. But they are utterly demoralizing in the end. The habitual use of stimulants and narcotics in such cases only increases the evil. The fact must be recognized that the hysterical insane are often least responsible where they seem most so, and that they must be treated with unending patience, kindness, gentle firmness, and a wise ignoring of most of the symptoms. ”

“ The more you compare smoking and drinking and drugging, the more resemblances you see. Opium, like tobacco and alcohol, ceases to stimulate the moment the effect of it is felt: it then becomes a narcotic. The history of the three [Pg 158] as a resort in an emergency is precisely the same. At the time when the average man feels that he needs his faculties most, he will, if addicted to any of the three, deliberately seek stimulation from it. He does not intend to go on long enough to get the narcotic effect, since that would be clearly defeating his own aims ”

“ To express this somewhat differently—a narcotic drug addict is an individual in whose body the continued administration of opiate drugs has established a physical reaction, or condition, or mechanism, or process which manifests itself in the production of definite and constant symptoms and signs and peculiar and characteristic phenomena, appearing inevitably upon the deprivation or material lessening in amount of the narcotic drug, and capable of immediate and complete control only by further administration of the drug of the patient’s addiction. ”

“ Much of inhibition of function and autointoxication and of their manifestations, has been recognized and taught under their own heading and in connection with conditions other than narcotic drug addiction-disease. That the influence and importance of inhibition of function and autointoxication in the development, and manifestations of the narcotic drug addict has escaped general and widespread recognition, is evidence of the small amount of unbiased clinical study, and of analytical clinical interpretation of material physical phenomena, hitherto accorded to narcotic drug cases. ”