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US energy lab missing cocaine, opium samples
[February 17, 2011] WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Energy Department's inspector general says Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California failed to keep track of samples of dangerous drugs, including cocaine, amphetamines, opium and black tar heroin.
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Some drugs were missing. But in one case the lab found more opium than records showed had been purchased legally. The inspector general's report says the accounting lapses created "an opportunity for improper or illegal use." Some employees at Livermore, one of the federal government's top science labs, handle as many as 42 different kinds of dangerous drugs. They are required under federal law to track their use closely. The drugs are used for biomedical research and forensic science, and in the lab's health clinic for the treatment of workers there. |
