If someone located a very small quantity of what could be an illicit drug, where can one go to have it identified without being questioned as to where it was found?
There are a variety of labs that will analyze just about anything you want them to without asking where you got it, assuming that it can’t somehow be used as a biological agent or WMD.
Buy a Narco Pouch kit and test it yourself. Get a mix pack and use the tests for what substance you think it might be. They run about $20 for a box of 10. You might even find them on Ebay. A lab is going to charge you a heck of a lot more than that.
Would finding a pharmacist help? Is this a service that a pharmacist would be considered qualified to do? If so, how likely is it that one could actually convince a pharmacist to do this? I know that it is almost certainly not something that health insurance would cover, so we are assuming that the testing costs would have to be paid out of pocket.
I doubt that a pharmacist could or would do it. Could you convince a pharmacist to do it for you? Who knows. I can’t imagine your health insurance covering something like this, so yes, you would have to pay for it out of your own pocket. If this has to do with someone you know who may be taking drugs, and you want to verify whether this material is an illegal drug or not, a simple blood or urine test would be an easy way to find out.
After one’s surreptitiously abstracted a person’s blood or pee without detection the rest is always plain sailing.
Not in my state (Ohio) we wouldn’t be of much help, except perhaps to direct you to the next DEA take back day. If it is a mostly intact pill or capsule, we can frequently guess (or use a reference), but even then I usually qualify my answer as a “best guess.” Lab testing (or appropriate testing kits) are probably the best way to find out for sure.
Call your local law enforcement or forensic specialist and they can lead you in the right direction. If you have friends working in law enforcement they are best suited to find the right person for testing the substance. You will be questioned some. The rise in drug use and sale is outrageous and considered one of the top grossing products in the American Economy. Just be honest and tell them where it was found. No details as to who might have possessed it needs to be given or even considered known. I have wondered about this before myself. If you come forward with potential such as this you are in no trouble assuming you are sober and only wish to know what it is you found. You may have found a new mixture, strain, or formulated substance that could help out police and doctors tremendously by deterring wide spread use early. I urge you to contact someone soon. GOOD LUCK!
I’m going to reiterate about getting a Narco Pouch multi pack and testing it yourself.
I highly warn against going out in public with something that may be an illegal substance on your person.
And YMMV but I’d caution about talking to law enforcement about it. This can possibly open a can of worms for you. Unless your local LEO’s have a special program for it don’t think you are going to show up with a controlled substance and not have to ID yourself.
When parents show up at the department I work for with dope they found in their kids room we give them a stern warning that they should have called us to come over and not brought it here. After the substance is tested the parents are NOT contacted and told what it was and the substance is sealed in an evidence container and kept in storage for 7 years. Your name is now on an evidence file with an illegal substance in it. This can come back and bite you in the ass one day. I could give actual accounts where it has.
None of this is legal advice, I am not a lawyer.
where can one go to have it identified without being questioned as to where it was found?
Nowhere. You have to assume the worst. You’re in possession of a controlled substance - people will ask questions, or worse, not bother and just pick up a phone and have you arrested.
Do as pkbites says and get your own test kit.
Where could you go to get a non-drug substance identified?
Specifically, an orange/red crystalline substance believed to be a cyanide compound?
Here’s the problem I see. Suppose you gave some white poweder to lab for testing, and it turns out to be cocaine. What do they do with the coke that hasn’t been used up in the test? You think they’ll give it back to you? That’s probably a criminal act. You think they’ll keep it in a vault? Probably also criminal. Destroying it might be criminal destruction of evidence.
Odds are they’ll talk to their lawyer, who might well aadvise them to call the cops.
There are visual pill ID guides at your local library if you don’t have internet access, or if you do they are online too. Just googling the color and shape and imprint of the tablet like "white oval R169’ often shows exactly what drug a unidentified pill is.
There are marquis reagent test kits you can buy for cheap online, you add the reagent to the substance and see if it turns the correct color for what you suspect it is.
I saw an episode of COPS where a woman called police and handed them a bag of what she suspected was powder cocaine she said someone had thrown in her yard, the cops arrested her! They were apologetic but said she was in possession of a controlled substance.:smack:
So what is someone supposed to do? Say you’re a landlord and when cleaning out an eviction find a cache of syringes and drugs or whatever, most people would probably call police but it looks like you’re just getting yourself a free felony.