EXCLUSIVE: Inside the lab identifying NI's killer drugs - Save The Next One
Carrick-based 'CSI-like' forensics science unit leading the way in UK
Last updated 21st Mar 2018
Situated at Seapark near Carrickfergus, the lab is one of the most advanced of its kind in the UK.
The work carried out there helps to clarify drink-driving samples, as well as toxicology reports on drugs deaths and crimes involving drugs, like date-rape.
The equipment is so finely balanced that it can take months to calibrate the settings, with some machines costing up to £250,000.
The CSI-style furnishings include machines like high-resolution mass spectrometers and the liquid chromatograph-quadrupole mass spectrometer.
That high-value technology is able to break down drug samples to a molecular level in order to compare them with a database of known substances.
Stan Brown, Chief Executive of Forensic Science NI, said poly-drug use has made their job more difficult in recent years.
"You've got more things to analyse int eh toxicology sample," he said.
"You have to separate them and identify then analyse them and quantify what concentration they were present in.
"Then you have to compute the interaction of all those different drugs together. You might have alcohol present along with other substances, maybe three, four, five different drugs.
"It's quite a complicated process."
Despite the millions of pounds pumped into the lab, the drugs market is ever evolving and can throw up surprises.
"Well a few years ago there was a number of deaths in Northern Ireland, 18, where there was an unknown substance involved," said Mr Brown.
"The instruments here operate off a library of known molecules that they search for, but this molecule hadn't previously existed.
"A laboratory in Hungary first identified this molecule and then told the rest of Europe exactly what its structure was."
It is the lack of regulations or rules governing drug dealers and illicit labs that makes the job of the forensics team at Seapark so difficult.
"It's unlikely we'll ever catch up to or overtake the bad guys who are creating new substances because they're always one step ahead," Mr Brown said.
"But when we look at users as well, there's a naivety among some users, who think that they've tried a drug before and it is fine.
"There's no quality control on these things though and people could be lulled into a flase sense of security."
After the scientists have carried out their work, it is then referred to the State Pathologist for his consideration, before being passed on to the NI Coroners' Office.
That is the point at which a cause of death is then recorded, with the information also being issued to inform policy decisions around drugs.
If you wish to contact us to tell us your story of how drugs have impacted your life, you can do so by emailing news@downtown.co.uk or if you wish to seek help for addiction issues, more information can be found here.