New and emerging drugs in state crime lab evidence

Crime lab data are a partial indicator of the supply of illegal or illicitly diverted drugs. As we describe elsewhere, these data may shift due to policy and practice factors and due to the presence of law enforcement agencies that transcend county borders. On this page, we take advantage of the quarterly reports we get from the state Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau to mark drugs that appear to be exhibiting an increase in law enforcement seizures in the most recent quarter.

In addition to the above issues with crime lab case counts, there are difficulties with reliably assigning a case to a particular quarter. First, the date entered as the received date for a particular case may be a couple days after when the case actually arrived at the lab, which might put it into the next quarter. This date clearly comes after the actual arrest. Furthermore, testing takes time, and so results may not come until later in the year. Sometimes the initial request is for only some of the evidence to be tested, in which case the other items might be tested later at prosecutor request, adding further delay between submission and result. Thus, we examine the most recent two quarters on this page (except for the first quarter of the year, when the main crime lab data pages are updated with yearly totals).

In sum, "quarter" does not mean when law enforcement seized the drug, and counts will likely change. All data presented here are preliminary.

Please refer to the other crime lab data pages for other insight:

• Statewide: opiates
• Statewide: major drugs, opiates, and psychoactive drugs
• King County: major drugs, opiates, and psychoactive drugs

Emerging drugs in the first quarter of 2017

Non-prescription synthetic opioids, a group that includes some of the fentanyl analogues and other analgesics not approved for human use

Compared to the average quarter in 2016, the number of cases testing positive for non-prescription opioids more than doubled to 9 cases statewide.

Fentanyl analogues, some of which are legally available by prescription

Compared to the average quarter in 2016, the number of cases testing positive for fentanly analogs (not including fentanyl itself) more than doubled to 6 cases statewide.

All opioids, including heroin, pharmaceuticals, and illegal synthetics

The following counties saw significant increases in the number of cases testing positive for any opioid versus the average quarter in 2016:

• Okanogan: Almost entirely driven by a jump in heroin cases.
• Pacific: All heroin.
• Stevens: All heroin.
• Thurston: Mostly due to a jump in prescription-type opioids.

Heroin

In addition to Okanogan, Pacific, and Stevens Counties, Jefferson County saw a substantial increase in cases testing positive for heroin. We should note that Pacific County averaged 7.5 heroin cases per quarter in 2015 before dropping to 3.75 per quarter in 2016, and that Asotin County (not pictured) saw its first heroin case since 2003.

Methamphetamine

Klickitat and Whitman Counties saw more than twice as many cases testing positive for methamphetamine than in the average quarter of 2016.

Emerging drugs in the second quarter of 2017

Non-prescription synthetic opioids, a group that includes some of the fentanyl analogues and other analgesics not approved for human use

Compared to the average quarter in 2016, the number of cases testing positive for non-prescription opioids more than doubled to 7 cases statewide. That's 15 cases of illegal synthetic opiates in 2017, compared to 7 total from 2002 through 2015 and 7 in 2016.

All opioids

The following counties saw the number of cases testing positive for any opioid more than double versus the average quarter in 2016:

• Jefferson: Almost entirely driven by a jump in heroin cases.
• Whitman: All heroin.