Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

88ers at the poppyfields or at any point thereafter. For manufactureddrugs, methods of tracing are not nearly as difficult because of distinctivecharacteristics of tablets and capsules.Four primary handicaps exist in the use of trace materials ; insertingthe tracers into the drugs and the tagged drugs into the illicittraffic ; the tracer must be safe for use internally or intravenously ; thetracer must be highly reliable ; and a tracer, to remain a unique identifier,cannot be reused until the tagged material has been cleared fromthe marketplace—a condition which can require several years.The advantages to be derived from being able to correlate the originof captured samples, and therefore being able to correlate the networklinks and nodes, should compensate for the difficulties involved in overcomingthe handicaps. Captured shipments can be tagged and reinsertedin the network ; radioactive tracers may not be totally safe, butchemically idenifiable tag materials are possible; the reliability ofunique identification can be very high; and large numbers of tracematerials can be found in time. To introduce tracer materials into thepoppy plant, and consequently into the opium, requires trace materialsthat can survive the processing that transform the opium into heroin.Analysis of the morphine alkaloid, the heroin, and the impurities thatremain after processing could suggest ways of altering the chemicalcomposition. Alterations would presumably be distinguishable andhence would serve to identify a particular batch of material.Trace materials can also be inserted into the distribution networkat points other than the source. For this purpose, it is necessary tohave tag materials which replace those used at later stages in the process.For example, it could be possible to use traceable acetic anhydridein converting morphine base into heroin (diacetylmorphine).It should also be feasible to introduce trace materials still later inthe network ; as for example, during the cutting phases. Either chemicallydistinguishable but similar substances could be used, or inertand distinctive things, perhaps plastics, could be added. But all of thiswill take intensive investigation and development before operationalutility is achieved.Sensor TechnologySensors for the detection of concealed narcotics and drugs, and forthe detection of effluents at heroin laboratories, will also require dedicatedresearch and development. The first task will be to identifytechnioues which can sense very small amounts of drugs or relatedmaterials. The second task will be the adaptation of those techniqu'°sto operationally useful forms.More so than for other technological weapons, sensors are highlysusceptable to countermeasures. It should be fairly easy, once the sensingtechnique is recognized, for the narcotic distributors to devise evasiveprocedures or devices. The need is therefore for an arsenal of sensorsand a variety of ways for utilizing them in order to keep the otherside off balance.There are a number of analytic technioues which are useful inidentifying narcotic and dangerous drugs. These methods include gaschromatography, infrared spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy. X-rayspectroscopy, free radical electron resonance, and a number of chemicalanalyses. But the apparatus which is most attractive for the opera-