SLANG TERMS FOR DRUGS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify the commonly used slang terms for 11 drugs.

The following terms are some of the most commonly used slang terms for drugs:

_{Amphetamines:} Bam, Beans, Bennies, Black Beauties, Black Cadillacs, Black Dex, Black Monies, Cartwheels, Chalk, Copilots, Crank, Cross, Crossroads, Crosstops, Crystal, Dexies, Dice, Double Cross, Drivers, Fives, Footballs, Hearts, Leaper, Lightning, Meth, Minibennies, Orange Hearts, Pep Pills, Rippers, Rosas, Roses, Speed, Thrusters, Truck Drivers, Uppers, Wakeups, White Cross, Whites, Yellow Barns, Zetters, Zip

Barbiturates: Abbotts, Barbs, Blockbusters, Bluebirds, Blue Devils, Blues, Christmas Trees, Courage Pills, Downers, Golfballs, Gorilla pills, Green Dragons, Lilly, Mexican Reds, Mexican Yellows, Nebbles, Nimbies, Pajaro Rojo, Pink Ladies, Pinks, Rainbows, Red and Blues, Redbirds, Red Devils, Reds, Sleeping Pills, Stumblers, Yellow Jackets, Yellows

Cocaine: Big C, Blow C, Candy, Coca, Coke, Flake, Gin, Girl, Gold Dust, Heaven Dust, Incentive, Lady, Lady Snow, Movie Star Drug, Mujer, Nose Candy, Paradise, Perico, Pimp, Polvo Blanco, Snow, Society High, Stardust, White, White Horse

Hashish: Black Russian, Goma de Mota, Hash, Soles

Heroin: Big H, Big Harry, Blanco, Boy, Brown, Brown Sugar, Caballo, Chiva, Crap, Dirt, Dust, Estuffa, H, Hard Candy, Harry, Heroina, Hombre, Horse, Junk, Mexican Brown, Mexican Mud, Polvo, Stag, Smack, Stuff, Tecata, Thing

LSD: Acid, Animal, Blotter Acid, Blue Berkeley, Blue Microdot, California Sunshine, Haze, Microdots, Paper Acid, Purple Haze, Sunshine, Wedges, Windowpanes

Marijuana: Acapulco Gold, cannabis, Colombian, Ganja, Grass, Green, Griffa, Hemp, Herb, Hootch, Hooter, J, Jay, Joint, Mary Jane, Mota,

Mutah, Panama Red, Pot, Reefer, Rockets, Sativa, Smoke, Stick, Tea, Weed, Yerba

Peyote: Bad Seed, Cactus, Mesc, Mescal, Mescal Buttons

Methaqualone: Quaalude, Quads, Quas, Soapers, Sopes, Sopor

Morphine: Cube, Dust, First Line, Gomma, Miss Emma, Morf, Mofina, Morpho, Morphy, Mud

Phencylidine: Angel Dust, Angel Mist, Busy Bee, Crystal, Cyclone, DOA, Dust, Elephant, Goon, Hog, Horse Tranquilizer, Magic Mist, PCP, Peace Pill, Rocket Fuel, Supergrass, Tic Tat, White Horizon, Wobble

IDENTIFICATION OF ILLICIT LABORATORIES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: List and explain the reasons for the proliferation of illicit laboratories. Describe a typical clandestine laboratory and the types of drugs produced.

During the past 25 years, the demand for psychoactive drugs-stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens -has spawned a rising incidence of illicit clandestine laboratories. They were first noticed in California and now have been encountered in virtually every other part of the country.

Government actions to control the legitimate manufacture and distribution of dangerous drugs also contributed to the growth of these laboratories.

Clandestine laboratories have proliferated because of the ease of production and the limited skill needed to operate them. Equipment, chemicals, and facilities are relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain. No great skills are needed to follow the manufacturing procedures. In fact, most laboratory operators employ or are themselves "cooks" rather than trained chemists. The overall risks are minimal despite sporadic fires and explosions and the threat of discovery and arrest. The potential profits from these enterprises can be enormous.

Most clandestine laboratories are set up to manufacture a single drug, although several laboratories have been able to manufacture many different ones. The majority of clandestine laboratories are established in rural areas and have relatively modest production capabilities. Occasionally, they are located in suburban or urban areas.

Large-scale laboratories are usually set up on rural tracts of land in large outbuildings. In some instances, these laboratories are set up in rented warehouses or other large buildings and are equipped with commercial production facilities capable of producing thousands and even millions of dosage units of controlled substances. Some laboratory operators have been students, teachers, or professional chemists or engineers who have used university or company laboratories for the illicit production of dangerous drugs.

Clandestine laboratory operators have produced almost two dozen kinds of controlled substances, including such stimulants as amphetamine, methamphetamine, and cocaine; such depressants as methaqualone and mecloqualone; such narcotic drugs as morphine, heroin, fentanyl/fentanyl analogues, alphaprodine/alphaprodine analogues, methadone, and hashish oil; and a wide variety of hallucinogenic drugs such as PCP, LSD, DET, DMT, MDA, MDMA, TMA, PHP, PCE, DMA, psilocybin, and mescaline, The two most prevalent types of laboratories in recent years have been engaged in the production of methamphetamine and amphetamine.

In an attempt to circumvent existing drug laws, some individuals have used clandestine laboratories to synthesize analogues of controlled substances. Known as "designer drugs" in the media, these controlled substance analogues usually retain the pharmacological properties of controlled substances, but, because of slight variations in chemical structure, are not specifically listed as controlled substances. Analogues of potent narcotics, stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens have been produced in clandestine laboratories.

These analogues carry increased health risks _due to their unknown purity, toxicity, and potency.

The emergency scheduling provisions of _the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 and _the Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act of 1986 are aimed at closing the legal loopholes used by individuals who manufacture and distribute these analogues.

There are also chemicals that have little or no use ^{other than drug manufacture. The presence of any of} them is a strong indication that a drug is being ^{synthesized. See table 7-6.}

_{There are many chemicals such as solvents (ether,} alcohol, chloroform, and so on) used in the synthesis _{of many or all of the drugs mentioned. These} chemicals also have many other legitimate uses. 

Table 7-6.-Identifying Illicit Labs by Reagents Present

Upon discovery of an illicit laboratory, nothing should be disturbed until a qualified chemist and fire department are present. Chemicals on hand may be explosive or highly flammable. A sketch of the laboratory should be prepared and photographs taken. Figure 7-29 shows two types of illicit laboratories.