Training course on laboratory Identification of Illicit Drugs
10 September 2016, Vienna, Austria
"Training on the Laboratory Identification of Illicit Drugs" was conducted for 8 forensic experts from the West and Central Asian region in Vienna, Austria in cooperation with the UNODC Laboratory and Scientific Section (LSS) on 29 August - 2 September for Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Tajikistan and on 5-9 September for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The training consisted of practical (hands-on) laboratory exercises. Each trainee was provided with real drug samples with unspecified content. Through the course of the training, the participants under the guidance and instructions of the LSS laboratory personnel, conducted preliminary screening tests, macro and macroscopic analysis, as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis of the samples. At the end of the training, an evaluation survey was conducted among the participants, with all participants assessing the overall rating of the training from "very good" to "excellent" and noted that they will be using what they learned in the training in their future work.
Suggestions from the participants included requests to organize more training courses of such nature, especially specialized training courses on use of GCMS, GC-FID and HPLC equipment.
