With grant aid from the Drug Control and System Improvement Program of the SC Department of Public Safety’s Office of Justice, the Horry County Police Department Regional Drug Analysis Laboratory opened in August 2003 to serve the law enforcement agencies and solicitors’ offices of the 15th Judicial Circuit.  The Laboratory utilizes state-of-the-art instrumentation.  A GC-MS (Gas Chromatograph with a Mass Selective detector) System provides confirmatory results for most every liquid, solid, tablet, capsule, and plant matter submitted for analysis.  A UV-VIS Spectrophotometer utilizes ultraviolet and visible light to presumptively test unknown liquid submissions.  An FT-IR (Fourier Transform- Infrared spectroscopy) System presumptively identifies unknown liquids and solids, as well as confirms the difference between the presence of cocaine base (often referred to as crack cocaine) and cocaine salt (cocaine powder).  The Drug Analysis Laboratory is operated by one Forensic Chemist, who tests seized substances according to analytical procedures accepted by and currently in practice at S.L.E.D.  The Forensic Chemist also serves as an Expert Witness for drug cases analyzed in the Laboratory that go to trial.