AMPHETAMINE (DOC) IN CONCORD, CALIFORNIA

The Contra Costa County Sheriff - Coroner's Office Forensic Services Division Laboratory (Martinez, California) recently received a small piece of crudely lined white blotter paper without any design, suspected LSD “blotter acid” (see Photo 2). The exhibit was seized in Concord by the Concord Police Department, pursuant to a local arrest for possession for sale (no further details). Unusually, the paper appeared to be hand-lined using two pens, in squares measuring approximately 6 x 6 millimeters. The paper displayed fluorescence when irradiated at 365 nanometers; however, color testing for LSD with para-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (PDMAB) was negative. Analysis of a methanol extract by GC/MS indicated not LSD but rather 4-chloro-2,5-dimethoxyamphetamine (DOC, not quantitated but a high loading based on the TIC). This was the laboratory’s first encounter with DOC in any form.