Acknowledgements

My formal scientific career started in the Wellcome Laboratories of Tropical Medicine, London, and the Biochemistry Department of C. H. Boehringer Sohn, Ingelheim, Germany. That was followed by postgraduate research in chemistry at Loughborough University. The inspiration for this book and its predecessors arose during my career in the former Forensic Science Service (FSS) in working with police, customs officers and lawyers, and in giving evidence in the criminal and coroner's courts. I spent fifteen years as a co-opted member, and later a full member, in the position once known as the ‘Statutory Chemist’, of the Home Office Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. After retiring from the FSS, I became an advisor to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon and UK co-ordinator on new psychoactive substances for the EMCDDA-REITOX Focal Point, initially in the former DrugScope and later, the Department of Health, London. That period coincided with the great expansion of scientific and political interest in new psychoactive substances. I have learnt so much from former colleagues over the past 60 years.

I wish to thank the Royal Society of Chemistry for supporting the concept of this book series. I am especially grateful to István Ujváry for checking the entire text and apprising me of recent international developments. Rudi Fortson, Q.C. reviewed a draft manuscript and provided advice on UK legislation. I thank my wife, Diane, for her forbearance during the many lonely hours while I was writing this book and for guiding me through some of the more obscure corners of Microsoft Word and Excel.