Drug identification is necessary if you have found unknown pills in your medicine cabinet or in your child's room. As misidentifying drugs can have serious consequences, making sure you know what narcotics it is you possess is necessary. In the situation of the pills in your child's room, it can tell you whether or not your children have begun to explore illegal narcotics.

Not all narcotics are illegal. With so many forms of Tylenol, aspirins, and similar painkillers, drug identification is required to prevent punishing a child that may not have done anything sinister. Taking the few minutes to find out what kind of pills you have stumbled upon is necessary!

There are several things that you should look for when identifying a over the counter drug. Drug identification is a careful science, requiring a good eye for size, shapes, colors and textures. All of these things need to be researched in order to make a positive identification.

Size and shape are necessary details in drug identification. Medications that are professionally manufactured come in standard sizes and shapes depending on what the drug is. These are the first thing that you notice when you find a stray capsule. If you are not good at guessing the size of a capsule, find a ruler that measures millimeters, centimeters and inches and measure the width, height and length of the capsule. These numbers can be used to identify them.

Next, the color of the pills can be used to help figure out what they are. As an example, Viagra comes in a very noticeable blue color, which sets it apart from the brown color of standard Advil. Once you have identified the size and shape of your capsule, the color will further hone what the capsule actually is.

Texture is something that can be noted at a look, or by carefully feeling the capsule with your fingertip. While texture is not as necessary as the color, size and shape of the pills, they may give the final clue to have a positive drug identification.

If you are lucky, there will be an label on the capsule. This is done by major manufacturers to promote proper identification of pills in case they are mixed with other narcotics with similar size, shapes and colors.

Many illegal narcotics do not follow set size, shapes and colors. If you find a suspicious narcotics that you cannot figure out, you may need to take it to a pharmacist or lab for identification. If you suspect that the capsule is an illegal narcotics, you should contact police immediately.