extraction

‘Cold water extraction’ tampering procedures from the Internet

Examples of text from site	Study protocol
Extraction of codeine from Product 1 (codeine/acetylsalicylic acid/magnesium oxide)
“The first thing to do is crush the tablets in a mortar”

 “Add approximately 3 mL water for each tablet you use, along with 0.55 g of citric acid per tablet”

“IMPORTANT! If you use the tablets containing 150 mg magnesium oxide despite the risk of diarrhoea, you will need to use 0.75 g of citric acid per tablet”

“Pour the solution with citric acid into the mortar containing the crushed tablets, or pour the tablets into the container with the citric acid. Stir thoroughly for about 5–10 min”

 “Measure the pH of the solution. If it isn’t below 3.5, more citric acid should be added”

“Next, the mixture is filtered. The solution now contains nearly all the codeine from the tablets, but almost none of the acetylsalicylic acid”

 “Citric acid is used because it prevents acetylsalicylic acid from transforming into its salt, whereby precipitation is ensured”

16 tablets are crushed in a mortar

48 mL water (20°C) is poured into a container, along with 12 g citric acid

The crushed tablets are added to the container containing water and citric acid

The mixture is stirred for 10 min using a glass spatula

The pH is measured

The solution is filtrated, using a coffee filter

Extraction of codeine from Product 2 (codeine/ibuprofen)
“The tablets are removed from the package and dropped into a small amount of warm water. Once the tablets have absorbed the water, they will swell up and can now be easily mixed with a fork. At this point, the product is ready for extraction”

“The container is topped up with cold water and the mixture is agitated to help dissolve the codeine”

“After around 30 min the mixture will have settled, leaving the insoluble ibuprofen and binders at the bottom, and the aqueous codeine solution at the top of the container”

“Using a syringe or dropper, the aqueous layer is harvested into another container. A second pull using half the original volume of water is then carried out in order to retrieve any remaining codeine”

12 tablets are submerged into 50 mL water (20°C)

Tablets are mixed with a glass spatula

100 mL water is added (10°C)

The solution is left in the refrigerator for an hour

The supernatant codeine solution is recovered with a pipette

50 mL water (10°C) is added to the remaining mixture containing ibuprofen and tablet fillers

The container is left in the refrigerator for an hour and a half

The supernatant codeine solution is recovered with a pipette, and added to the codeine containing solution previously extracted

Extraction of codeine from Product 3 (codeine/paracetamol)
“Added 96 10 mg codeine 500 mg + rubbish tablets to 200 mL cold tap water and left for 10 min or so to dissolve CP”

“So I heated the solution in a hot water bath to about 45 or 50°C”

“I then filtered the solution and it filtered in a fraction of the time it usually does with cold water”

“This is then placed in the freezer until it almost freezes, by which time almost all of the paracetamol dissolved, crystalizes out in lovely large needle shaped crystals”

“This near frozen solution is then filtered, which is also fast as paracetamol crystals are now large. This solution is now safe to drink”

Procedure for samples 1–5

 19 tablets are submerged in 40 mL tap water (10°C)

 After 10 min, the mixture is heated in a water bath until the temperature reaches 45°C

 The solution is filtered using a coffee filter

 The filtrate is placed in the freezer until the temperature is below 2°C

 The solution is filtered a second time, using a coffee filter

Procedure for samples 6–8

 19 tablets are submerged in 100 mL tap water (24.5°C)

 The mixture is stirred for 15 min, until all tablets are dissolved

 The mixture is placed in the freezer, until the temperature reaches 1°C

 The mixture is filtered, with the use of a coffee filter