The drug overdose epidemic is being driven by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that comes in many forms. Each form has a slightly different chemical structure, and clandestine chemists are constantly cooking up new chemicals.
The National Institute of Standards (NIST) https://www.nist.gov, Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany, and DEA https://www.dea.gov have launched the website “NPS Data Hub” at https://www.nist.og/programs-projects/novel-psychoactive-substance-nps-data-hub where forensic chemists can share data on new drug variants also called drug analogs.
Underground chemists create new analogs in part to boost drug potency where some fentanyl analogs can be thousands of times stronger than heroin. This increases the risk to users, who may not know exactly what they are consuming. New analogs also allow manufacturers to stay one step ahead of the law.
When drug evidence is forensic, chemists will often try to identify it using an instrument such as a mass spectrometer. This instrument generates a unique barcode-like pattern which acts as sort of a chemical signature for the compound in question. The chemists will then search law enforcement databases for a known compound with the same signature.
However, if the drug is new, the signature won’t be recognized and a much more complex analysis will be needed to identify the substance to determine its chemical structure which may mean that the drug be sent to a more advanced facility. This process can take six months or more including quality control to ensure the accuracy of the chemical structure and other data.
After that lengthy process is completed, the new drug and its chemical signature are added to law enforcement databases, so that the drug can be identified more easily the nest time. The “NPS Data Hub” which is updated frequently aims to shorten the time lag by making it easier for experts to collaborate and enable the data to be reviewed and also makes it possible for other labs, including smaller state and local labs to use the data.