Language Translation
  Close Menu

Identifying an Illegal or Clandestine Drug Lab

Identifying an Illegal Drug Lab

Four types of clandestine labs have been found in Indiana;  meth, fentanyl, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and butane honey oil.

What is a meth lab?

  • Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system.
  • Abnormal amounts of chemical products such as drain cleaner, cold packs, pseudoephedrine tablets, or lithium batteries.
  • Strong or irritating pungent odors (Ammonia/Solvents).
  • Distinctive trash such as pseudoephedrine "bubble" packaging, battery casings from disassembled lithium batteries, and HCL generators (plastic bottles with tubing).
  • Containers altered from their original use, i.e.,  gas tanks (like the kind attached to a grill) with retrofitted valves.
  • Spent one pot reactions with different powders, liquids, and pieces inside disposable containers, i.e., plastic drink bottles.

What is a fentanyl lab?

  • Fentanyl is a white powder and looks very similar to methamphetamine.  It is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin.  It only takes a small amount to be lethal.
  • Containers altered from their original use, i.e.,  blender or stand mixer used to combine fentanyl with other drugs like heroin, or inert substances to increase the amount of product.
  • Pill pressing machines often used to create faux prescription opioids.
  • Often people do not know what they're buying is fentanyl as the pills are marked as other prescription drugs.

fentanyl

What is a N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) lab?

  • Fentanyl is a white powder and looks very similar to methamphetamine.  It is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin.  It only takes a small amount to be lethal.
  • Containers altered from their original use, i.e.,  blender or stand mixer used to combine fentanyl with other drugs like heroin, or inert substances to increase the amount of product.
  • Pill pressing machines often used to create faux prescription opioids.
  • Is a molecule that mimics the neurotransmitter serotonin, much like the other classic psychedelics LSD and psilocybin.
  • DMT-containing plant such as Mimosa hostilis root bark is mixed with lye/granulated sodium hydroxide, naphtha VM&P or 40-60 petroleum ether to extract the DMT from the root material.
  • Synthetic DMT usually comes in the form of a white, crystalline powder. It can be smoked in a pipe, vaporized, injected, or snorted.

DMT

    What is a Butane Honey Oil lab?
  • BHO or shatter or wax is a hash oil concentrate made by using Butane to extract resin with high concentrations of THC from the marijuana plant.
  • It has 60% more potency than marijuana and it is smoked.

BHO

For more information: