NCJ Number
225819
Date Published
June 2008
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This 2007 Annual Report of the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) presents national and regional findings on drug cases analyzed during the past year, including drug-seizure information by location.
Abstract
Finding show a decrease in total analyzed items for the top four drugs between 2006 and 2007. An estimated 1.8 million drug samples were analyzed by State and local laboratories in the United States in 2007, a 7-percent decrease from 2006. In 2007, cocaine was the most frequently identified drug (606,882 items), followed by cannabis/THC (595,775 items), methamphetamine (165,225 items), and heroin (93,327 items). Regionally, exhibits that contained methamphetamine decreased in the South from 58.0 items in 2005 to 53.3 items per 100,000 people in 2007, a 22-percent decrease. Cocaine exhibits decreased in the Midwest between 2006 and 2007, from 128,297 items to 105,418 items, an 18-percent decrease. The same trend was not found for hydroquinone and oxycodone, as detections of these drugs increased in all regions of the country between 2001 and 2007. Lab reports of alprazolam increased in the Midwest, South, and Northeast, and MDMA (“ecstasy”) increased in the Midwest. This report also provides data on drug combinations identified by laboratories. These are multiple substances reported within a single drug item. Combinations reported in NFLIS can represent either mixtures of substances or separately packaged substances within the same item or exhibit. Another section of this report presents data on lab findings regarding the purity of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine items. NFLIS data come from 276 Federal, State, and local forensic laboratories. Extensive tables and figures and appended listing of participating and report labs, NFLIS benefits and limitations, NFLIS interactive data site, and national estimates methodology