Amphetamine profiling in the UK

Samples of illicit amphetamine seized by Police and Customs in England and Wales are routinely submitted to the Drugs Intelligence Laboratory at Aldermaston. Solvent extraction is used to separate synthetic impurities from the amphetamine and common cutting agents. The gas chromatogram provides an impurity profile. Around 4000 samples have been analysed in the past 4 years. These profiles have been subjectively classified into 10 major groups. Comparison of Police and Customs seizures has shown that, during 1993, nearly all amphetamine in the UK had been imported from The Netherlands.