Some issues in the appointment and production of forensic examinations to determine the method of obtaining narcotic drugs: the historical aspect and the current status of the problem

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend in the number of crimes related to the illicit manufacture and production of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Drug traffickers offer consumers a wide range of ready-made reagent kits and related synthesis schemes designed to illicitly obtain various controlled substances using simplified or modified technology. As part of the investigation of such crimes, it is mandatory to appoint and conduct a forensic examination to determine how to obtain a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. The authors analyzed the genesis of this type of expertise and their current state, evaluated the methodological basis, which revealed the lack of a unified approach to solving questions about the ways of obtaining the most common synthetic drugs and psychotropic substances in the production of physico-chemical expertise. The problem situations arising both at the stage of preparation and appointment of expertise, and at the stage of its production are considered, the sources of information that may be useful in the examination of this category are marked. The article proposes ways of solving the indicated problems, aimed at the formation of a unified methodological basis of expert examinations and the development of a private methodology for the investigation of crimes related to the production of controlled substances.