New and emerging drugs in state crime lab evidence: Quarters 1 & 2, 2019
Data source, utility, and limitations
Crime lab data are a partial indicator of the supply of illegal drugs or prescription drugs that are controlled substances and suspected of being purchased or sold illegally. The data presented here are the results of the Washington State Patrol’s Crime Lab chemistry testing of samples submitted by law enforcement. While the data provide important insights into the supply of drugs, in part due to the use of precise chemical testing which indicates exactly which substance is present, they also have numerous important limitations that are described at the bottom of this page.
On this page, quarterly data provided by the Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau are used to identify drugs that appear to be increasing in law enforcement seizures in the most recent quarter. (Data are preliminary and will change. For more on the data, see the details at the end of the page).
Emerging drugs in the first quarter of 2019
Opioids
Fentanyl: Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid many times more powerful than heroin or morphine. Here we highlight cases of fentanyl itself, which is legally available but can be made illicitly, and not any of the many analogues. Statewide, there were 55 cases of fentanyl in the first quarter of 2019, more than double the average quarter over the prior three years but not as large of a jump over the 176 total in 2018 (44 per quarter).
Preliminary data. Data source: Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau, Washington State Patrol
Prescription-type opioids: We refer to opioids legally available by prescription, but the particular specimen seized may or may not have originated from a prescription and been diverted. Including the 12 cases of fentanyl shown above, Snohomish County had 17 cases of prescription opioids after having seen fewer than 6 per quarter over the prior three years.
Morphine is commonly used for pain management. Clark County had 6 cases of morphine in the first quarter of 2019. Clark averaged fewer than 6 cases per year over 2014 through 2018--but did have 13 cases in 2016.
Cocaine: Okanogan County had 4-5 cases of cocaine each year from 2013 through 2018. The 3 cases in the first quarter of 2019 may or may not represent an increase, as there were no cases in the second quarter.
Emerging drugs in the second quarter of 2019
There were no statewide jumpts in the second quarter. Among counties, the most notable increase was in fentanyl seizures in King County.
Prescription opioids: Again, the focus here is on opioids that are nominally available legally, although the source of the actual drug seized in each case is not known. King County had 25 crime lab cases test positive for one or more prescription-type opioid, including 19 cases of fentanyl (itself, not one of the analogues). King County has had 32 fentanyl cases so far in 2019.
MDMA: Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (known as "Ecstasy") is consumed recreationally for its mood- and energy-enhancing properties. After 2 cases positive for MDMA total over 2014 through 2018, Mason County had 2 in the second quarter of 2019.
In order to smooth the jumps, we now compare the current quarter to the average quarter over the prior 3 years. This means that an unusually low number of cases in the prior year no longer creates what looks like a substantial increase, which is particularly an issue with relatively rare drug categories and/or small counties.
As we describe elsewhere, there are many limitations of the data, including: county being an imperfect geographic unit to report the data; changes in law enforcement policy, practice and resources over time; and often substantial lags between when drugs were seized by law enforcement and when they were submitted to the lab and then further lags due to testing and reporting.
Truly new drugs present a challenge for crime lab testing: the need for a standard to which to compare the lab sample for identification. Cannabimimetics and novel psychoactive drugs (for example, variations of MDMA), for example, are constantly changing. Often when a particular formulation gains enough notoriety--usually, being made illegal or causing a widely reported death--to warrant a standards company producing a chemical standard and a crime lab buying it, the formulation is changed. Thus, time trends in identified crime lab cases do not capture the initial rise of such a novel substance, but at best its peak and decline. Here we just focus on significant counts of new or rarely-before-seen substances.
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 few 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 a subsequent quarter. Sometimes the initial request is for only some of the evidence from a case to be tested, and so the other items might be tested later at prosecutor request, adding further delay between submission and result.
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:
had 17 cases of prescription opioids after having seen fewer than 6 per quarter over the prior three years. 
had 3 cases of heroin.
had 6 cases of morphine in the first quarter of 2019. Clark averaged fewer than 6 cases per year over 2014 through 2018--but did have 13 cases in 2016.
had 4-5 cases of cocaine each year from 2013 through 2018. The 3 cases in the first quarter of 2019 may or may not represent an increase, as there were no cases in the second quarter.
