NEWS : 13.05.10 - Tea holds key to tracking illegal drugs

[kingpin007]

Tea holds key to tracking illegal drugs

Posted Thu May 13, 2010 8:22am AEST


Western Australian scientists hope new techniques to trace the origins of tea leaves will help fight the global drug trade.

University of Western Australia Forensic and Analytical Chemistry Group member Doctor John Watling says the group can analyse a sample of tea and work out which plantation it comes from.

The technique is so sophisticated that scientists can take a sample of Darjeeling tea and work out not only that it comes from Darjeeling, but also the specific plantation it comes from.

Dr Watling says the technology can also be used to track the origin of drugs like cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

"Marijuana will pick up material from the soil in which it is grown or from hydroponics if it's grown artificially in somebody's attic, and will pick up a trace element signature that is related to the fertilisers that go into the soil in which it's grown," he said.

"So when you look at the crop itself you can actually say it's likely to be grown in this particular geographical area.

"We had some interesting cases some time ago where marijuana grown in the Goldfields actually had gold in it."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/13/2898070.htm?section=justin

 

[AussieSWIMer]

Both sides are at work. Damn.

 

[thickskin]

I would think this would be too expensive except for huge busts.


"Marijuana will pick up material from the soil in which it is grown or from hydroponics if it's grown artificially in somebody's attic, and will pick up a trace element signature that is related to the fertilisers that go into the soil in which it's grown," he said, "So when you look at the crop itself you can actually say it's likely to be grown in this particular geographical area."

This makes no sense to me. You may be able to tell it's hydro, but that doesn't help. A lot of crop is grown with store bought soil, or at least heavily improved soil. They are only going to get a rough idea of where people are growing straight in the soil.

 

[WitchfinderGeneral]

Yeah, I doubt it'll provide a GPS location. Also, since a lot of the drugs listed are usually imported, I'm guessing they'd alert the local authorities, who often turn a blind eye. Not sure how successful it'll be, really.

 

[phase_dancer]

I first read about this some 5 years or so ago. The mineral content of the plants/ synthetic byproducts, as well as other specific markers can be identified using a range of analytical techniques. If it comes down to busting a big syndicate, I'm sure the costs won't be an issue.