A validated ultra-high-performance liquid chromatographic (UHPLC) method was used to determine the phenazepam dosage in clandestinely produced Erimin 5 tablets. Tablets from five different seizures submitted to the laboratory in 2013 were found to have a dosage of about 2.4 milligrams. The measurement uncertainty of the assay was estimated to be 3.2 % (relative) at a coverage factor of k=2. As an adjunct study the dyes in the tablets from several seizures were determined by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) for future comparative studies.

No abstract

Clandestine heroin laboratories have been a feature of the Malaysian illicit drug scene since soon after the abuse of heroin emerged in 1972. The first few clandestine heroin laboratories which synthesised heroin via the acetylation of imported morphine were uncovered in 1973 and 1977. By the mid-1980s, this type of laboratory was replaced by heroin-cutting laboratories whereby imported high-grade heroin was cut to street heroin. This was to meet the rising demand for the drug owing to the rapid escalation of the number of drug users. Over the years, the most significant change in the composition of the street heroin is the decrease in its purity from 30%-50% to 3%-5%. Caffeine has remained the major adulterant and chloroquine is detected in virtually all recent seizures.

With the emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) over the years, the substances detected on stamps (also known as blotter papers) have also evolved from the traditional drug—lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to the multiple variants of lysergamides such as ALD‐52 and 1P‐LSD. The analysis of such blotter papers is usually done by solvent extraction followed by identification using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). This study has shown that hydrolysis to form LSD was observed in GC‐MS analysis when ALD‐52 was extracted with methanol. The extraction of ALD‐52 using other solvents such as acetonitrile, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, and acetone, followed by GC‐MS analysis, was investigated. It is shown that alcoholic solvents such as methanol and ethanol will result in the conversion of ALD‐52 to LSD during GC‐MS analysis, whereas the sterically hindered isopropyl alcohol will prevent this conversion. Investigation also shows that the hydrolysis of ALD‐52 to LSD occurs at the GC injector port. It was also observed that the degree of hydrolysis was more pronounced at a lower concentration (0.1 mg/mL). The study was extended to a close analog—1P‐LSD, and the results showed that 1P‐LSD similarly hydrolyzes to LSD. However, 1P‐LSD was observed to be more stable than ALD‐52 due to steric hindrance because of the propanoyl group.