History Main / FingertipDrugAnalysis

* In ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'', Onizuka needs more than a million yen to pay for a vacation trip and his DirtyCop buddy Saejima gives him bags of white powder, supposedly cocaine, that are apparently worth millions. [[TheSmartGuy Kikuchi]] immediately pokes his finger in the bags and tastes the powder, and says that it is just ordinary flour. Onizuka is angry at being cheated, but Saejima replies that "I never said it was cocaine! It is good flour! You could sell it to a bakery!"

* Basil does this in ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', when he suspects someone of spiking his drink.

* A non-drug variant is PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/BabyMama''. A child comes into the house covered in patches of brown goo and her mother asks if it's chocolate or poop. The child proceeds to taste it and reply "that's chocolate". Her sister responds with a disgusted, "What if it were poop?"

* In ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds1974'', the gang steal a Cadillac Eldorado that turns out to be filled with packets of white powder. Atlee pokes a hole in one bag and tastes it, then declares it to be heroin.

* In the movie version of ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Dumbledore does this to some blood that's dripped onto Harry's forehead from the ceiling, but doesn't immediately comment. After he locates Slughorn, he identifies it as dragon's blood (which, as the alchemist who discovered the twenty uses of the substance, makes sense and reveals that it's what made him positive the ransacked house was faked).
* Actually PlayedForDrama in ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' -- this is how Mr. Gower realizes that he has accidentally put cyanide in some capsules meant for a sick child. (Which wouldn't have happened if twelve-year-old George Bailey hadn't alerted him to it.)

* Mitchell does it in ''Film/{{Mitchell}}'', when he finds the plastic bags of powder in the old lady's luggage. He coats the tips of two fingers in an absurd amount of the stuff, tastes it, and declares that it's chalk.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/MovingViolations''. When Deputy hank finds a suspicous white powder on the seat of Dana's truck, he dips his finger in it and sticks it in his mouth. Only after he has done so does Dana inform him that it's guano.

* Barbossa does this in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', when he tastes a spring with a dead body floating in it and declares it to be poisoned.

* Also spoofed in the Utah film ''Film/TheSinglesWard'', when a young woman is arrested for breaking in to what turns out to be her own apartment. A plastic tub full of white powder is handed to the senior partner (played by a Morning Radio Personality), who takes a deep whiff, buries his finger in it, sticks the whole finger in his mouth, and pronounces it "Tide".
* The buddy-cop movie ''Film/TangoAndCash'' opens with [[Creator/SylvesterStallone Ray Tango]] arresting two punks, who have driven an oil truck well outside his jurisdiction. The highway patrol arrives on the scene and chides him for his recklessness, and a search of the truck reveals nothing but oil. They ask if he thinks [[ShoutOut he's Rambo]], to which Tango calmly replies, [[SelfDeprecation "Rambo... is a pussy"]] before shooting the bottom half of the oil tanker, revealing a steady stream of white powder. Tango cups his hands under the stream for a few seconds, then licks the resulting pile of powder in his hands.

* In ''Agents of Light and Darkness'', John Taylor performs the fingertip touch-and-taste test on a statue, and confirms it's a human who's been transformed into salt. Only in the {{Literature/Nightside}}...

* In ''The Course of Honour'' by Creator/LindseyDavis, a teenaged Vespasian tries it with the drink that just killed his friend Britannicus. It nearly kills him, too.

** Earlier, Vimes found a mysterious bag of white powder in his desk but explicitly refused to taste it, instead asking the on-staff alchemist to see if it was arsenic. Shortly afterwards Carrot did use this method. On a mysterious bag of white powder he'd just seen Vimes stuff a handful from into his mouth. It turned out to be sugar, Vimes having swapped out the bag for one from the canteen.

* ''[[Literature/PhiloVance The Scarab Murder Case]]'': Vance uses this to find the opium [[SlippingAMickey in Dr. Bliss' coffee]]. Sergeant Heath packs up the coffee cup for a real analysis (which confirms Vance's taste-test).

* ''Literature/{{Serpico}}''. Marijuana is passed around the police recruits so they can identify its "pungent aroma". Meanwhile Serpico overhears a couple of recruits whispering, "This is good shit!" while puffing on the joint.
* Maureen does this (cautiously) in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/ToSailBeyondTheSunset'' while searching out-of-control teen daughter Priscilla's room, when she finds a bag of white powder. She concludes it's cocaine from the numbing effect (she did also find what she decided was marijuana). She briefly considers turning the stash over to the police in hopes they'll find her daughter's dealer, but decides it would be pretty close to impossible to convince the police the stash is her daughter's rather than her own, and flushes it.

* ''Series/TheATeam'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E12UncleBuckleUp Uncle Buckle-up]]", the team finds bags of a white powder while investigating the warehouse. Hannibal tastes a bit and promptly identifies it as heroin.

* Subverted almost every episode of ''Series/COPS1989'' (well, every episode there's a drug test) with the baggie-test. Portable chemical tests the police have contain reactants that will change color in the presence of the primary component of the drug; if you've gone more than three episodes of that show without seeing the next contestant on "Is It Blue?" at some point, count yourself lucky.

* Jasper Carrott and Robert Powell taste some white powder in crime-drama spoof ''The Detectives''. Then they taste it again to make sure. [[SmashCut Cut]] to the pair driving down the motorway at approximately 5mph, screaming "Slow down! Slow down!"

* ''Series/FunkySquad'': In "A Shot in the Dark", Cassie identifies some powder found in Ramirez' office as cocaine by sticking her finger in the bag and then licking it.
* In an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'', a KAOS agent tries to poison Max with arsenic with a hot dog at a game. Before Max can take a bite, Hymie the android wants to try the hot dog. Reluctantly, Max give Hymie the hot dog. Hymie eats the whole thing and comments on the taste, including that arsenic is a bit bitter.

* Averted in ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit''. When Elliot is undercover as a white-collar drug dealer, he "tests the product" of a potential supplier by ''feeling'' the powder's consistency. Asked why he doesn't taste it instead, he claims that they do random drug tests at his workplace; he only sells cocaine, he can't risk using it.

* Sam Tyler in ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'' not only identifies a sample of heroin but can tell from its colour that it's from Turkey... much to the suspicion of his police colleagues, as heroin is a new drug that's barely hit the street in 1973.[[note]]This is very anachronistic. Heroin was a major problem as of the turn of the century, much less the 1970s. Heroin just seems to make a comeback every few decades... the 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, and 2000s have all seen big comebacks for heroin.[[/note]]

* ''Series/Lucifer2016'': Lucifer squicks out Detective Chloe by finger-tasting a pool of spilled blood, immediately identifying it as not human (turns out the victim's pet had been killed instead).

* The first episode of ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'' has Phryne check some white powder with this and determine that it's cocaine. Mac then double checks. Phryne then triple checks.

* Also spoofed in one episode of ''Series/PoliceSquad'' -- presented with a bag of white powder, Norberg identifies it as a drug from a fingertip taste. Then, while the action continues in the foreground, he takes another fingertip, and another, and then a ''big'' fingerload, and starts rubbing it on his gums... When we next see him, he's high as a kite and draped around a piece of furniture.
* Bodie, Doyle and Cowley regularly do this in seventies action show ''Series/TheProfessionals''.
* Discussed in ''Series/{{Psych}}''. Shawn and Gus are watching a drug deal. Gus asks if one of the baddies performed this trope. Not only does he taste the drugs, [[spoiler:he double dips]]!
* In ''Series/{{Sisters}}'', one of the sisters, Teddy, and her boyfriend come across some some drugs hidden in a shipment of clothes from her clothing line. The boyfriend opens one of the packages and tastes the drug. Teddy asks if it's heroin, and he replies he doesn't know, that's just what they do on TV.

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': In chapter 3, Chiaki tastes a weird green goo she finds stuck to the doors of the music venue. It turns out to be [[spoiler: glue that was used to hold the doors shut, [[LockedRoomMystery giving the illusion they had been barred from the inside]].]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'': During one side case, Yagami tastes some mysterious white powder from the rim of a cup. That white powder is [[spoiler:arsenic]].

** In "The Yellow Badge of Cowardage", Homer, with help from fireworks manager Giuseppe Granfinali, tries to buy explosives from Cletus; Granfinali tastes the gun powder and finds out it's actually crystal meth.

* It's said one of Franchise/SherlockHolmes' real life inspirations pulled a trick of this nature. The Professor had two vials of urine, one from a diabetic, and he dips a finger in and tastes it -- remarking that the diabetic is sweeter and forcing all the students to repeat it. Then he admonishes them for not paying attention. He had actually dipped in his pointer finger, but sucked on his middle finger. TruthInTelevision, though - prior to the development of chemical assays for glucose in urine, doctors really did detect it in this way. The "mellitus" in "diabetes mellitus" means "honey-flavored."

* At least one nineteenth-century scientist insisted upon tasting every substance he discovered, though it was known, even then, to be very dangerous. He was found dead surrounded by dozens of substances, and with no way of knowing which did him in. Another discovered a compound which was absurdly sweet and incredibly tasty. He threw a party in which all the guests joined him in taking shots of the stuff. They were all dead by morning.

* The psychedelic properties of LSD were first discovered, according to a widespread story, when the chemist responsible washed his hands carelessly, prepared himself a snack and then rode a bicycle. A colorful trip ensued. ([[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope TvTropes would like to remind you that cycling under the influence of mind-altering drugs is not advisable.]])
* The artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) is made by chlorinating regular sucrose, thus replacing three of the hydroxyl groups with chlorine. This discovery was made possible because someone misheard an instruction from their superior; they thought their boss told them to ''taste'' sucrose treated with chlorine, when in actuality they were merely told to ''test'' it (this was done while researching sugar-substitute possibilities during the diet craze of TheEighties, so it's not as bizarre of a mistake as it initially seems).

* Most definitely averted with regards to certain high-end opioids such as forms of fentanyl, which can be very dangerous if ingested. Some police officers even claim that skin-contact can cause an overdose, but this is a common misconception.[[note]] Whilst fentanyl can be dangerous if ingested or injected, its potency is exaggerated among law enforcement and the media. As discussed in [[https://youtu.be/RMpCGD7b_H4 this segment]] from '' Last Week Tonight'', cops suffering ill effects from "touching fentanyl" are, in most cases, suffering from anxiety or panic attacks, due to fear that they've touched something lethal (as this is what they're being taught).[[/note]] That police are treated for overdoses of a drug that has to be taken or are sometimes caught trafficking or dealing it themselves [[DirtyCop is surely just a coincidence.]]
* In Chile, a security guard at a chemical plant wanted to check if the white powder in a plastic cup was sugar or salt, but it turned out to be caustic soda. He suffered severe burns but managed to survive, although for several months he could not eat anything solid. This was a serious case of negligence on the part of the company, since caustic soda should never be placed out in the open, much less without being properly labeled.

* Most definitely averted with regards to certain high-end opioids such as forms of fentanyl, which can be very dangerous if ingested. Some police officers even claim that skin-contact can cause an overdose, but this is a common misconception.[[note]] Whilst fentanyl can be dangerous if ingested or injected, its potency is exaggerated among law enforcement and the media. As discussed in [[https://youtu.be/RMpCGD7b_H4 this segment]] from '' Last Week Tonight'', cops suffering ill effects from "touching fentanyl" are, in most cases, suffering from anxiety or panic attacks, due to fear that they've touched something lethal (as this is what they're being taught).[[/note]]

->''"Yep, this is the stuff... hot sauce. Good thing this wasn't blood - I'd be licking AIDS right now."''
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce''

-->-- ''Series/AquaTeenHungerForce''

* Discussed in ''Series/{{Psych}}''. Shawn and Gus are watching a drug deal. Gus asks if one of the baddies performed this trope. Not only does he taste the drugs, [[spoiler:he double dips!]]
* In the TV show ''Series/{{Sisters}}'', one of the sisters, Teddy, and her boyfriend come across some some drugs hidden in a shipment of clothes from her clothing line. The boyfriend opens one of the packages and tastes the drug. Teddy asks if it's heroin, and he replies he doesn't know, that's just what they do on TV.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Kirk gives the taste test to a white powder he finds lying about on the "Arena" planet, but in that case it's potassium nitrate.
** On ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', Sisko once gave Gul'Dukat back a bottle of poisoned wine. Weyoun took a swig and declared it "quite toxic". He then explained that Vorta are immune to most poisons.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Mulder tests substances with his fingers ''all the time''. He frequently touches some weird substance or its residue, and sometimes he goes that one step up and smells it or licks it as well. In "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E11Eve Eve]]," he tastes soda (that he suspects is poisoned, which it is, with digitalis) and his tongue goes numb. He performs TheKetchupTest on fake blood in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E11Revelations Revelations]]." Scully's face is a wonder to behold. From "Squeeze:"
-->'''Scully:''' Oh my God, Mulder, it's smells like--I think it's bile.
-->'''Mulder:''' Is there any way I can get it off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior? ''(hastily shakes goo off)''

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