Statement of Phillip John O'Neil, BSc, MSc, CChem, MRSC.

Age of Witness: over 21

Occupation of Witness: Principal Scientific Officer

Address:	Department of Trade and Industry
		Laboratory of the Government Chemist Cornwall House,
		5, Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8XY.

This statement, consisting of 2 pages signed by me, is true to the best
of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered
in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated
in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

Dated the 16th of December 1989

Signed Philip O'Neil

Laboratory Reference: FD 7342/89 (Reference Collection No. 12831)

Your Reference: FARRANT A	(Case: De Silva)

I am head of the Forensic Drugs Section of the Laboratory of the Government
Chemist and have been a forensic drug analyst since 1976. To date, I have
analysed the drugs in nearly 2000 cases, most of which were prosecuted in
the Crown Court.
I have published a number of research papers on medicine and drug analysis,
three of which specifically deal with heroin*. I am a member of a UNITED
NATIONS expert group which reviews methods used in the forensic analysis of
drugs. I am the author of the booklets published by the UN Division of
Narcotic Drugs on recommended methods of analysis for HEROIN, COCAINE and
CANNABIS PRODUCTS.

Diamorphine is made chemically from Morphine which is extracted from Opium.
Invariably other chemicals are present in illicit diamorphine and heroin is
the name used for the mixture.
Most of the heroin seized in the UK has been imported from the Indian
Subcontinent and is frequently a fine powder whose colour varies from light
brown to almost chocolate. The colour and consistency of the powder do not
necessarily bear any relationship to the diamorphine content which can be
from 1% to 70% but which typically will be between 20% and 50%. Brown
heroin has a characteristic odour and has a physical appearance which is
very variable. No two unrelated seizures are identical.
A number of other chemicals are present in heroin from the Indian
Subcontinent.  These chemicals fall into two categories:
(a) the opiates, which are derived from opium and which have passed through
the processing by which heroin is made from opium.
(b)adulterants, which are added after the heroin has been made, and which
increase the bulk of the material.
The opiates include the compounds Diamorphine, Narcotine and Papaverine.
Most samples of illicit heroin contain detectable amounts of these three
compounds. A recent trend his been for the Narcotine content of illicit
heroin to be much higher than it was a few years ago, and there is strong
evidence to suggest that narcotine, which is a by-product of the extraction

Signed    Philip O'Neil     Signature Witnessed by [illegible]   p1



Continuation of Statement of Phillip John O'Neil, BSc, MSc CChem, MRSC.

of morphine from opium and which can be isolated after the morphine, has
been separated, is being added as a powder to Heroin after the synthesis of
the heroin from morphine. In this sense the Narcotine is acting as an
adulterant i.e. to increase the bulk of the heroin.
In recent years many illicit samples of heroin from the Indian Subcontinent
have been found to contain various adulterants, the two most common of
which were Methaqualone and Phenobarbitone.  A recent trend has been a
decline in the frequency of occurrence of Methaqualone and Phenobarbitone
and a corresponding increase in the frequency of Caffeine as an adulterant.
Many other adulterants have been identified by LGC or other forensic
laboratories in the UK or abroad.  One such is the chemical Phenolphthalein.

Examination of Reference Collection Sample 12831

I have examined the brown powder Ref No 12831 and the experimental results
obtained by Mr P Cain, Scientific Officer of this laboratory, on the powder
submitted as the item FARRANT A.
The physical appearance and odour of the brown powder is very
characteristic of that of heroin from SW Asia.  To an experienced drug
analyst such a powder would, a priori, be presumed to contain diamorphine.
Equally, anyone conversant with the physical appearance of brown heroin
would assume that the powder from FARRANT A was a typical heroin sample. In
my opinion anyone with knowledge of illicit heroin would take the powder of
FARRANT A to be a typical heroin sample.

Origin of powder of FARRANT A
Chemical analysis of this powder by Mr Cain showed that it contains the
opiates Narcotine and Papaverine and the adulterants Methaqualone,
Phenobarbitone, Caffeine and Phenolphthalein. The narcotine content of
the powder was over 50% by weight.  In my opinion the likely explanation
for the high Narcotine content and the presence of typical heroin adulterants is
that the powder of FARRANT A is a mixture of common heroin adulterants and
powder containing Narcotine which in normal circumstances would be added as
an adulterant to heroin. One explanation for this would be that those
trafficking in heroin had no further heroin available for the intending
purchaser and that a "rip-off" has occurred.
This is not the first occasion that a "heroin" sample analysed by LGC has
been found to contain no diamorphine, and other similar samples have been
analysed by other UK forensic laboratories.

* References
1. J of Chromatographic Science Vol 21, No. 12, Dec. 1983, pp 551-554.
2. J of Forensic Sciences Vol 29, No. 3, July 1984, pp 889-902.
3. J of Forensic Sciences Vol. 30, No. 3, July.  I985 pp 681-691.

		******************************

Signed    Philip O'Neil     Signature Witnessed by [illegible]    p2