NCJ Number
203883
Date Published
2001
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This document presents the 2000 Annual Report of the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS).
Abstract
Under the direction of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the NFLIS has been systematically collecting the results of drug analyses conducted by State and local forensic laboratories from around the country. Since 1997, this highly valid information system has been supplying timely data on changing and emerging drugs of abuse, as well as details on drug characteristics such as drug combinations and drug purity. Such information is invaluable in guiding national and local drug policy and drug enforcement initiatives. This report provides data from 18 State laboratory systems and 20 local laboratories. Most of the participating laboratories are in the South or Midwest, thus these two regions are overrepresented in the current data. Section 1 presents data on the 25 most commonly identified drugs during 2000 by census region. A total of 532,412 drug items were sampled by reporting laboratories during 2000; the 25 top most commonly identified drugs accounted for almost 88 percent of all drugs analyzed. Nationally, the top four drugs included cannabis/THC (40 percent), cocaine (31 percent), methamphetamine (10 percent), and heroin (8 percent). Section 2 describes the major drug categories reported to NFLIS during 2000, which include narcotic analgesics, benzodiazepines, club drugs, hallucinogens, steroids, and stimulants. Section 3 reports on drug combinations, where multiple substances were identified within a single drug item. During 2000, the four most common combinations were heroin/cocaine, cannabis/cocaine, cocaine/caffeine, and amphetamine/methamphetamine. Section 4 provides an analysis of the quarterly distributions of four selected pharmaceuticals (hydrocodone, oxycodone, alprazolam, and diazepam) and the top four illicit drugs for each region of the country. The appendix offers the benefits and limitations of the NFLIS data. Figures, tables, appendix