The Republic of Ireland has a population of approximately 4.7 million citizens. Illicit drug misuse is tackled by legislative control mechanisms and the sole national forensic laboratory (Forensic Science Ireland) is tasked with detailing any controlled drugs present in seized materials by issuing a ‘certificate of analysis’ which is utilized for court purposes.

This paper reports on the newly identified impurities detected in Irish amphetamine importation seizures, some of which have been published previously, others presented for the first time. Reagent purity and synthesis conditions have been shown to affect the components observed during analysis of seizures. Post synthesis additions (adulteration) and storage conditions may also have a profound effect on the analytical profiles obtained from seized items. The finding of new impurities, their abundances, the use of reagents that contain or form known existing impurities and post synthesis additions all have the potential to adversely affect existing profiling methodologies, which aim to link different seizures to a source.