Module No.

15

DRUGS

1st Semester 2023

Ruel S. Encela
Assistant Professor III
C. Pre-test:
1. What Do You Know About Drugs?

2. All medicines are drugs but not all drugs are

medicine. YES or NO. EXPLAIN.

a.
b.

Instructions: To test your prior knowledge, please answer the

pre-test.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

D. Discussion

DRUGS

Drug
This refers to a chemical substance that brings about physical,
physiological, behavioral, and/ or psychological change in a person taking
it.

All medicines are drugs, but not all drugs are medicine drugs.

Medicinal Drugs
A substance which when taken into the human body cures illness
and/ or relieves signs/ symptoms of disease.

Dangerous Drugs
A substance affecting the central nervous system which when taken
into the human body brings about physical, emotional, or behavioral
changes in a person taking it.

Drug Abuse
Any non-medical use of drugs that causes physical, psychological,
legal, economic, or social damage to the user or people affected by the
user’s behavior.
Abuse usually refers to illegal drugs but may also apply to drugs
that are available legally, such as prescribed medications and certain
over-the-counter medications.

Drug dependence
It is compulsive behavior brought about by drug abuse. It can
either be physical or psychological.

Drug addiction
It refers to a chronic or periodic abuse of a drug for intoxication.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

Drug addict
This is another term for a drug user. It refers to a person who is
physically dependent on one or more psychoactive substances whose
long-term use has
produced tolerance that has lost control over his intake and would
manifest withdrawal if discontinued.

Tolerance
It is any physiological adaptation to the effect of drugs so as to
diminish effects with constant dosage or to maintain the intensity and
duration of effects through increased dosage.

CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS
1. According to ORIGIN
2. According to LEGAL CLASSIFICATION
3. According to INTERNAL CLASSIFICATION
a. Natural Drugs
4. According to PHARMACOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION (effects)

ACCORDING TO ORIGIN
They are active ingredients, secondary metabolic products of
plants, and other living systems that may be isolated by extraction.
EXAMPLES: Raw opium, Marijuana, Coca bush

b. Synthetic Drugs
They are artificially produced substances, synthesized in the
laboratory, for the illicit market, which are almost wholly manufactured
from chemical compounds in illicit laboratories.
EXAMPLES: Methamphetamine, barbiturates

ACCORDING TO LEGAL CLASSIFICATION

a. RA 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002)
b. PD 1619 (Volatile Substances)
c. RA 6425 (Classified as Regulated and Prohibited)

Under RA 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Act

of 2002, the term prohibited and regulated was changed into dangerous
drug with the following classification:
1. Immediate precursors
A chemical substance used in the clandestine manufacturing
process becomes incorporated in full or part into the final molecules of a
substance under international court.
2. Essential chemicals
They are chemical substances used as reagents or solvents in the
illegal manufacture of controlled substances.
3. Narcotic, psychotropic, and designer

ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

a. Narcotics substances c. Designer Drugs
b. Psychotropic substances

ACCORDING TO PHARMACOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

(EFFECTS)
a. Stimulants c. Depressants
b. Hallucinogens d. Inhalant
STIMULANTS – They are drugs that increase the alertness of physical
disposition.
Example: 1. AMPHETAMINE
Street Name: Eye opener, lid poppers, pep pills, uppers, and hearts
What it is: Reduces appetite
Relieves mental depression
Comfort fatigue and sleepiness
How taken: Orally as a tablet or capsule
Effects: General: Wakefulness, increased alertness/ initiative
Toxic: From restlessness to coma and death
Dangers: Dependences, Overdose, Violent/ Bizarre behavior

2. Shabu (Methamphetamine Hydrochloride)

Street Name: Poor Man’s cocaine, S, shabs, ubas, siopao, sha, ice

What it is: White odorless crystal/ crystalline powder with a bitter

numbing taste.
How it is being taken: Ingestion, inhalation (chasing the dragon),
sniffing, injection, smoked
Effects: General: Anxiety, irritability, irrational behavior
Long Term: psychosis similar to schizophrenia, difficulty in
concentrating, loss of interest in sex
Physical: chest pain, irregular heartbeat, hypertension,
convulsion, death
Dangers: Injection from contaminated needles may lead to the risk of
infections, AIDS, etc.

HALLUCINOGENS
They are drugs that affect sensation, thinking, self-awareness, and
emotion. Changes in time and space perception, delusions (false beliefs),
and hallucinations may be mild or overwhelming, depending on the
closeness and quality of drugs.
EXAMPLES: 1. Ecstacy
Street Names: XTC, Adam, essence, E, herbals
How it is being taken: Swallowing or inhalation
Effects: Exaggerated emotions make HR and BP hike up, dry
the mouth, stiffen arms, legs, and jaw, dilated pupils of the eyes,
and cause faintness, chills, sweating, and nausea.
Dangers: It can kill.

2. LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

Street Name: Lucy in the sky with diamonds, wedding bells, acid,
white sugar, lightning, cubes, brains eaters
What it is: A semi-synthetic alkaloid substance extracted from a fungus
with grows on rye, wheat, and other grains, odorless, tasteless, and
colorless.
Effects: Psychological: vivid hallucinations, confusion, blurring,
and the distinction between conscious and unconscious thought.
Physical: dilated pupils, flushed face, increased BP
Dangers: May cause an abnormal amount of breakage of chromosomes
of WBCs that carry genes, which may result in miscarriages and birth
defects.

3. Marijuana
Street Name: Mary Jane, Flower, Pampapogi, Brownines, Damo, pot,
tea, joint, Dope
What it is: Comes from Cannabis Sativa L. (Indian hemp) looks like fine,
green tobacco

How taken: Smoked in pipes/cigarettes; can be taken in the food,

made into candy, sniffed in powder form, mixed with honey or butter.
Effects: Immediate: faster heartbeat, bloodshot eyes, dry mouth
Long Term: chest pain, temporary loss of fertility, cancer,
marijuana burnout.
Dangers: Slows down user’s mental and psychomotor activities; long-
term use may lead to psychological dependence; may lead to cancer.

DEPRESSANTS
They are drugs that depress or lower the functions of the central
nervous system.

TYPES OF DEPRESSANTS
1. Narcotics – They are drugs that induce sleep (hypnotics) or stupor
and relieve pain (analgesic). Something that soothes, or causes a
sensation of mental numbness. This includes opium, opiates, heroin,
morphine, and codeine

2. Tranquilizers – They are substances that reduce anxiety, ease tension

and relax muscles.
3. Sedatives and hypnotics
Calm the nerve, reduce tension, and induce sleep.
EXAMPLES: Barbiturates, alcohol

INHALANTS
These are any liquid, solid, or mixed substances that have the
property of releasing toxic (psychoactive), vapor or fumes.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

EXAMPLES: Solvent, glue, gasoline, kerosene, paint, thinner,
naphthalene

What are considered Dangerous Drugs?

Dangerous drugs are substances affecting the central nervous
system which when taken into the human body bring about physical,
emotional, or behavioral changes in a person.
A substance that when taken into the human body alters mood,
perception, feelings, and behavior.

Drug Dependence
It means a state of psychic or physical dependence, or both on a
dangerous drug, arising in a person following administration or use of
that drug on a periodic or continuous basis.

Characteristics of Drug Dependency

1. Physical Dependence – The body’s physical system changes until the
body needs a particular drug just to function.
2. Mental or Psychological dependence – A need for a drug just to
feel good, to get by, or to feel normal.

3. Idiosyncrasy or side effect

USE – refers to the act of injecting, intravenously or intra muscularity, or

of consuming either by chewing, smoking, sniffing, eating, swallowing,
drinking, or otherwise introducing into the body’s physiological system,
any of the dangerous drugs.

SELL – Means the act of giving a dangerous drug,, whether for money or
any other material consideration.

EXAMINATION OF DANGEROUS DRUGS

“Drug testing is a form of forensic testing. Drug test results issued
should be scientifically, legally, and forensically defensible”

Drug identification – is a branch of forensic chemistry that deals with

the scientific examination of drugs and volatile substances.

A forensic chemist/ chemical officer usually conducts drug identification

to determine the presence of dangerous drugs on submitted specimens.
The forensic/ chemical officer also conducts drug tests on the body fluids
of suspected drug pushers and users to determine the presence of
dangerous drug metabolites.
Paraphernalia like smoking pipes, tooters, and aluminum foils
should also be submitted for examination to determine the presence of
dangerous drugs.

Forms of dangerous drugs

a. tablets d. powder g. uprooted plants

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

b. capsules e. brick or decks of marijuana
c. liquid f. crushed leaves

EXAMINATION OF THE SAMPLE TAKEN FROM ALLEGED

DANGEROUS DRUGS

Methods of Examination
1. Qualitative examination 2. Quantitative examination

Steps common to qualitative and quantitative methods

a. Selection of method to be used e. Chemical test
b. Physical test f. Confirmatory examination
c. Sampling g. Calculation and interpretation of
data
d. Sample preparation h. Drawing of conclusion and writing
report

Two (2) Phases in the examination of the alleged dangerous drugs

1. Screening test/ Preliminary test
This test is non-specific and preliminary in nature. It is employed to
reduce the family group of drugs to a small and manageable number.
Screening test includes a series of color tests producing
characteristic colors for each family or group of drugs. This is done by
adding a specific reagent to an unknown sample in a spot plate.
Screening tests are quite simple to perform even by investigators
in the field. Field tests using these techniques are being taught in
Narcotics investigation Courses. Test reagents and basic apparatus are
commercially available.

COLOR REACTIONS:
CANNABIS: Duquenois- Levin = violet
Fast Blue B salt = purple-red
COCAINE: Cobalt Thiocyanate test (CT Test) = blue
Scott test of Modified CT test: Reagent 1 = blue
Reagent 2 = pink
Reagent 3 = blue
Wagner test brown (specific test for cocaine)
DIAZEPAM: Zimmerman test reddish purple or pink (some
benzodiazepine derivatives do not give color with this test.
Hydrochloric acid = yellow
Vitali- Morin test = Yellow-orange
OPIUM: Marquis test = violet
Ferric Sulfate = brownish purple
Mecke = Blue to green
Nitric acid = orange to red to yellow
CODEINE: Mecke = Blue to Green
Nitric acid = Orange to yellow
HEROIN: Mecke = Blue to green
Nitric acid = Yellow to green

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

BARBITURATES: Dille- Koppanyl test = reddish purple

METHAMPHETAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE
Simon Test = Blue
Marquis test = Orange to brown
ECSTACY: Simon Test = Blue
METHAQUALONE and PHENCYCLIDINE: CT Test = blue
LYSEGIDE OR LSD: Ehrlich = violet
MESCALINE: Marquis test = Orange
Liebermann = Black

NOTE:
The positive results of these tests are not conclusive. Confirmatory
tests have to be performed by the forensic chemist/ chemical officer on
the case to establish the presence and identification of dangerous drugs.

2. CONFIRMATORY TEST:
A confirmatory test is the method employed to confirm the results
of the screening/ preliminary test. This involves the application of an
analytical procedure to identify the presence of a specific drug or
metabolite. This is independent of the screening test and which uses
techniques and chemical principles different from that of initial test to
ensure reliability and accuracy.

There are several methods used in the Confirmatory test

1. Chromatography
It refers to the process of separating mixtures and comparing the
migration of each component with the standard. Some chromatographic
techniques include:
a. Gas Chromatography
b. Thin Layer Chromatography
c. High Pressure Liquid Chromatography
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY – It is a separate technique. The mobile phase
is a gas and separation is based on the difference in migration.

2. SPECTROSCOPY
It is a confirmatory method whereby light is used to identify the
sample specimen.
TYPES OF SPECTROSCOPY
a. Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy (FTIR)
b. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UVS)
c. Mass Spectroscopy (MS)

EXAMINATION OF URINE SPECIMEN

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 The rate of excretion from the body depends on the solubility of the
drug in fat. Water-soluble drugs such as cocaine are excreted quickly,
while fat-soluble drugs such as marijuana may take several weeks or
months before excretion.

Validity test for Urine Specimen

Validity test- is a test to determine the integrity of samples.
Reasons for Conducting Validity Tests
In cases of unobserved urine collection
When there is suspicion that the urine specimen has been tampered with
Instances when to allow unobserved urine specimen collection:
1. When a donor is physically unable to go to the laboratory.
2. Involve in crime scene
3. Involve in post-accident
4. Critically ill

Different types of Tampered Urine Specimen

1. Adulterated
This refers to a specimen containing either a substance that is not
a normal constituent for that type of specimen or an endogenous
substance at a concentration that is not a normal physiological
concentration.

2. Diluted
This refers to a specimen with less than normal physiological
constituents.

3. Substituted
This refers to a specimen that has been derived through switching
or replacement of the original sample.

Ways to adulterate Urine Samples

1. Addition of salt
2. Addition of juice
3. Addition of detergents
4. Addition of bleached and other oxidizing adulterants
5. Addition of illicit drugs

Ways to substitute urine Sample

1. Urine from friends or other persons not using drugs may be used as
a substitute specimen.
2. Replace the sample with other substances similar in appearance.

Ways to dilute a urine specimen

1. Internal Dilution

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 Intake of plenty of water before collection or drinking of herbal tea,
etc.
2. External dilution
Addition of water to previously collected urine
PARAMETERS FOR VALIDITY TESTS
Initial Validity tests
1. Physical characteristics such as color, odor, etc.
2. Volume
3. Temperature
4. pH
5. Specific Gravity
6. Nitrites
7. Creatinine
8. Oxidizing agents
Confirmatory Validity Test
1. Physical characteristics such as color, odor, etc.
2. Volume
3. Temperature
4. pH
5. Specific Gravity
6. Nitrites
7. Creatinine
8. Oxidizing agents
Other methods for Confirmatory VALIDITY test
a. Physical characteristics – visually determined
b. Volume – same as physical characteristics
c. Temperature – using a thermometer
d. Ph – Ph meter calibrated with appropriate buffers
e. Specific GRAVITY – use a refractometer
WHEN DO WE CONSIDER URINE SPECIMENS INVALID?
1. Adulterated, substituted or diluted
2. Improperly collected, handled and stored
3. Improperly documented.

E. ACTIVITIES/ EXERCISES

Activity 1. CROSSWORD PUZZLE

3
.
1
.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

 .
4
.

6 5 10
. . .

7
.

DOWN
1. It is the process of separating mixtures and comparing the
migration of each component with the standard.
2. Refers to a specimen with less than normal physiological
constituent.
3. A specimen that has been derived through switching or
replacement of the original sample.
4. It is like smoking pipes, tooter, and aluminum foil.
5. It is conducted to determine the integrity of the sample.

ACROSS
6. A specimen containing either a substance that is not a normal
constituent for the type of specimen or containing an endogenous
substance at a concentration that is not a normal physiological
concentration.
7. A confirmatory method whereby light is used to identify
specimens.
8. This includes tablets, capsules, liquid, powder, brick or decks of
marijuana, crushed leaves, and uprooted plants.
9. A specific test for cocaine.
10. It is a form of forensic testing.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

ACTIVITY 2- GROUP THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF DRUGS
ACCORDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CLASSIFICATION.

1. LSD 11. THINNER

2. SOLVENT 12. MARIJUANA
3. AMPHETAMINE 13. HEROIN
4. SHABU 14. OPIATES
5. XTC 15. GLUE
6. CODEINE 16. ALCOHOL
7. SOLVENT
8. NAPHTHALENE
9. MORPHINE
10. OPIUM

STIMULANTS HALLUCINOGEN DEPRESSANT INHALANTS

S S

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

ACTIVITY 3: WORD GAME
Fill each space with a letter to produce a word related to
the examination of dangerous drugs. Write a brief definition for
each on the line provided below.

1. C __ __ __ __ T __ S __
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
.

2. __ __ N__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Y __ E __ T
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
.

3. S __ __ __ __ R __ __ __ __ P __
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
.

4. __ __ S CH __ __ __ A __ __ __ __ __ P H ___
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
.

5. __ I __ __ T __ D U __ __ __ __ P E __ __ __ __ N
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
.

IDENTIFY THE TEST USED IN THE EXAMINATION FOR

EACH DRUG WRITTEN ON THE FIRST COLUMN, THEN
WRITE ON THE THIRD COLUMN THE COLOR RESULT OF
THE EXAMINATION.

DRUGS TESTS COLOR

RESULT
1. Heroin

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

2. Ecstacy

3. Methamphetamine
HCl

4. Diazepam

5. Cannabis Sativa

6. Mescaline

7. Cocaine

8. Codeine

9. LSD

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

ACTIVITY 4:
In the table below, cite some ways how to adulterate,
substitute, and dilute urine samples.

ADULTERATED SUBSTITUTED DILUTED

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)