My daughter has been charged with possession of cocaine. The police have charged her but we still haven’t been told whether the drugs they seized were actually cocaine or not. Don’t they have to wait until lab tests prove it is cocaine before they charge her?
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Answer by Jo Wilson, Macleod 3085 VIC
- Police will conduct a preliminary drug test to ascertain what drugs has been seized. They will then send the drugs to a police forensic laboratory for testing by a forensic scientist.
- The forensic scientist will analyse what the drugs are made up of. Usually street drugs are not ‘pure’ and have been cut with other substances such as baking soda or talcum powder.
- The forensic analysis will state what has been found and the purity of the drugs.
- Police do not have to wait for this formal analysis before filing charges. It is sufficient that the formal forensic scientist’s report is available before the matter is heard in court.