History Main / FingertipDrugAnalysis

* In ''Series/TheATeam'' 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.
* A variation on the trope occurred on ''Series/BarneyMiller'', in "[[Recap/BarneyMillerS3E11 Hash]]" when Barney suspects some brownies baked by Wojo's girlfriend have hashish in them. He asks Harris to test the brownies, which Harris does... by eating one, rather than sending it to the lab as Barney had expected.

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', "[[Recap/BrooklynNineNineS3E23GregAndLarry Greg & Larry]]": Detective Hitchcock touches and tastes chocolate marks Holt smeared on the hospital sign (as a lead for them to find him). Since he can't have known what it is, Jake Peralta is understandably grossed out that Hitchcock would just put "a hospital thing" in his mouth. Hitchcock later tastes the smear of brown stuff on the car park sign, and even after establishing that it isn't chocolate this time, Hitchcock licks it again.
* Beckett does the test and finds heroin in ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}''. Castle comments on how badass she looked doing it.

-->'''Tim:''' Hang on a minute--''(sniffs)''--dang! That's certain substances, that is! How stupid... Graeme, have a sniff of that.\\
'''Graeme:''' Huh? Oh, that's--''(sniffs -- collapses, then gets up, looking completely spaced out)''--hooh! Where'd you get the stuff, man? Cool, baby, cool...

* On ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977'' David taste-tested some white powder he found on his foot after transforming back from being the Hulk. (Hulk had rampaged through a warehouse full of drugs.)

* The Hyde persona in the British series ''Series/{{Jekyll}}'' identified a soldier's age, diet, and number and breed of pets by ''smell'' and was also able to determine that he had cancer, where, and his life expectancy by tasting his sweat.

* Averted on ''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.
* Deconstructed on ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': An [[RetiredBadass old FBI agent]] was talking about his old cases. A flashback showed his partner working undercover buying drugs from a DirtyCop. He was about to taste test the drugs when his partner showed up to stop him, having figured out that the cop wasn't just corrupt, he was a psychopath and the drugs were cyanide.
* Sam Tyler in ''Series/{{Life on Mars|2006}}'' 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.

** 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.

* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}''. 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).
* ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' tests a suspected drug sample this way, only to find out that it's keratin (powdered rhino horn).
* In the ''Series/MannAndMachine'' episode "Billion Dollar Baby," Eve tastes a pile of white powder and announces, "It's baby powder!"
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Happy Families", Winter tests a bottle of poison he finds in the kitchen by dipping his finger it and touching it to his tongue. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a prop for the murder mystery game that was supposed to be played at the party.]]

* Doctors and alchemists in older times often examined stuff by taste and smell -- they didn't have much choice, as most of the more sophisticated methods didn't exist yet. This is probably one reason why people who dabbled in alchemy tended to get rather strange later in their lives, as traditional alchemy is absolutely fascinated with mercury, whose fumes and compunds are highly toxic and not good for the brain.

* Likewise, when methamphetamines were becoming popular, policy in many jurisdictions was for police officers to fan the air in suspected meth labs towards their noses in order to pick up on the fumes. Given the nature of meth fumes, most of the drug officers in at least one jurisdiction that did this eventually contracted throat and mouth cancer.

* 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, even without the admonishment. 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."

* Doctors and alchemists in older times often examined stuff by taste and smell -- they didn't have much choice, as most of the more sophisticated methods didn't exist yet. This is probably one reason why people who dabbled in alchemy tended to get rather strange later in their lives. Traditional alchemy is absolutely fascinated with mercury, whose fumes are highly toxic and not good for the brain.

** Lead(II) acetate probably -- incredibly tasty, incredibly deadly.

* The psychedelic properties of LSD were first discovered through something similar to this.

* A group of Website/DarwinAwards almost-winners were stationed in Russia when they discovered a barrel of white powder in storage, [[http://darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid2004-16.html which turned out to be thallium, one of the most toxic of all elements]].
* In a very literal version of this trope, some college students developed [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/26/students-develop-nail-polish-to-detect-date-rape-drugs/ a type of nail polish]] that supposedly changes color when exposed to common date rape drugs. The theory is that women are to stir their drinks with their fingers to see if the colors change. [[note]]It should be noted that straight alcohol is the substance most commonly involved in assault, so the fact that there aren't roofies in your drink isn't a guarantee of safety.[[/note]]

* 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 in a plastic cup, much less without being properly labeled.

* [[https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-dimethylcadmium Dimethylcadmium]] - ''At any rate, its odor is variously described as "foul", "unpleasant", "metallic", "disagreeable", and (wait for it) "characteristic", which is an adjective that shows up often in the literature with regard to smells, and almost always makes a person want to punch whoever thought it was useful.''

* Beckett does the test and finds heroin in ''Series/{{Castle}}''. Castle comments on how badass she looked doing it.

* Occurs in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', when Brian gets a job working as a police dog. He gains a cocaine addiction as a result, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome which inadvertently shows why]] Fingertip Drug Analysis [[AccidentalAesop is a bad idea.]]

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', a dead immortal's son mentions that he tried this with a bag of white powder he found in his dad's stuff (along with [[MultipleIdentityIDs several blank passports]], valuable paintings, and Krugerrands), and that it made his tongue feel numb.

* Spoofed in ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. The Man in Black kills Vizzini with the "odorless, tasteless" deadly poison iocaine. Later, Prince Humperdinck finds the vial which originally held it, sniffs it... and immediately identifies it as iocaine. Though in the book, he identified it as iocaine ''because'' of the lack of any odor and the fact that a man obviously was killed by a fast-acting poison beside it. He says "Iocaine, I bet my life on it.", meaning he couldn't decidedly identify it, but given the circumstances and evidence, made an educated guess.

* ''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.

* Reina tries this with a spice Mile magically distills in ''Literature/DidntISayToMakeMyAbilitiesAverageInTheNextLife''. Given that what Mile had cooked up was [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce crystallized capsaicin]], she quickly regrets it.

* Parodied on a ''Webcomic/VGCats'' [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=212 comic strip]] about ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney''. His lovely female assistant finds residue from [[ADateWithRosiePalms "some mysterious [white] liquid" all over his computer]] and tastes it. She exclaims, "Salty...must be blood!"

* Subverted almost every episode of ''Series/{{COPS}}'' (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.

* ''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 "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 "Revelations". Scully's face is a wonder to behold.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. It ''looks'' like Terry is going to do this, always dipping his finger into strange substances, but really he's using his [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman suit's]] built-in analyzer.
* On ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Steve's high school principal is shockingly good at this, as shown when Francine frames Steve for possessing cocaine.
-->'''Principal Lewis:''' ''(does the fingertip taste test)'' Pure Peruvian marching powder. Grown on the Andes, north slope. I'd say it's about 80% baby laxative. Yep, this junk means only one thing: Esteban Mortilla is back in business!

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', when Mabel samples the strange substance coating just about everything in an abandoned convenience store.
-->'''Mabel:''' Yep! It's dust.

* A variation appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingSpiez''. The kids are investigating the cocooning of various scientists/important people and while on-site, Marc takes the liberty of performing this trope on the yellow substance used on the victim. His siblings are [[{{Squick}} understandably disgusted]] and somewhat baffled, but Marc is quick to inform them it's just honey. Now, why TheSmartGuy of the team in both this and the above example took the liberty of doing this is [[FridgeLogic unclear]].

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* Luffy of ''Manga/OnePiece'' does it once with a strange green powder he found near a hut in the desert. Not so much to identify it than to see if it can be eaten (it can't; it's an alchemical powder used to cause rain). This is because Luffy is perpetually hungry, his first approach to anything new is "IsItSomethingYouEat", and he's a moron.
* Every time powder-form drugs turn up in ''Manga/CaseClosed'', Conan verifies its identity by tasting it. (And he really shouldn't be that cavalier about putting strange substances in his mouth, given how many times he's seen victims die to FingerLickingPoison.)

* ComicBook/JudgeDredd once identified a shipment of illegal sugar by tasting.
* AlternateHistory tale ''ComicBook/RexMundi'' has agents of the Inquisition identify laudanum (liquid opium) this way.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', a dead immortal's son mentions that he tried this with a bag of white powder he found in his dad's stuff (along with [[MultipleIdentityIDs several blank passports]], valuable paintings, and Krugerrands), and that it made his tongue feel numb.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* OlderThanTelevision: The detective in the bizarre 1916 comedy ''Film/TheMysteryOfTheLeapingFish'' does this to confirm that the crooks he's investigating are smuggling opium. He then proceeds to eat several handfuls of opium.
* ''Film/JamesBond''
** ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly''. Bond identifies raw opium by taste.
** He does the same in ''Film/TheLivingDaylights''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn8eRNlL4oE The same substance looks slightly different in both films.]]
* Spoofed in ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. The Man in Black kills Vizzini with the "odorless, tasteless" deadly poison iocaine. Later, Prince Humperdinck finds the vial which originally held it, sniffs it... and immediately identifies it as iocaine. Though in the book, he identified it as iocaine ''because'' of the lack of any odor and the fact that a man obviously was killed by a fast-acting poison beside it. He says "Iocaine, I bet my life on it.", meaning he couldn't decidedly identify it, but given the circumstances and evidence, made an educated guess.
* Subverted in the movie ''Film/{{Showtime}}'', which shows an undercover detective verifying a drug buy with a small chemical apparatus, and later, when William Shatner as Himself demonstrates the Fingertip Method, he is met with the question "And what if it was cyanide?"
* Barbossa does this in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', when he tastes a spring with a dead body floating in it and declares it to be poisoned.
* Frank Oz's police officer identifies the drugs planted on Louis Winthorpe in ''Film/TradingPlaces'' as PCP using this method. Which is insane, considering what even a tiny amount of PCP can do. However, [[DirtyCop since it]] ''[[DirtyCop was]]'' [[DirtyCop a scam and they]] ''[[DirtyCop knew]]'' [[DirtyCop it was fake]], it's likely that it was all for show.
* 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".

* In ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', the T-X analyzes blood samples this way. Unlike a human cop, she's highly unlikely to be poisoned as a result of tasting something nasty. Of course, this was mostly used as an excuse to have the actress [[EroticEating suck on her finger]], given that it's Kristanna Loken and all.
* Spoofed in ''Film/{{Charade}}'', when Audrey Hepburn and Creator/CaryGrant are going through her late husband's luggage to see if they can find something valuable enough for him to have been murdered for. They find a tin of what appears to be tooth powder; at her urging, he does the test... and concludes that either it's peppermint-flavoured heroin or it really is tooth powder.
* 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.
-->'''Tango:''' Anybody wanna get high?
* 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).

* 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.

* Accidental in ''Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}}''. Elliot decides to taste the strange powdery product in his barn... and sees that it's cocaine. ([[GratuitousSpanish "¡Es cocaína! ¡COCAÍNA!"]])
* Done to ridiculous extremes in ''Film/{{Dolemite}}'', where supposed police officers actually inhale the cocaine they seize, before declaring it "the good stuff all right".

* Gimli does this with orc blood in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers.''
* Axel does this in ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' when he searches the warehouse with Jenny and finds the bags of white powder underneath coffee grounds in a crate. It ain't sugar.
* Bletch the Walrus does this in ''Film/MeetTheFeebles'' with a substance that is said to be cocaine. [[spoiler:Turns out it's borax. He then proceeds to force-feed the borax to the dealer who sold it to him, killing the dealer.]]
* 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 ''Thanksgiving'', one of the [[RealTrailerFakeMovie spoof trailers]] featured in ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'', features two detectives crouching near a decapitated body. One dips his fingers into the pool of red liquid near it, licks his fingers, and declares it to be blood.
* In ''Film/TheConIsOn'', the [[BadHabits fake nun]] buying the drugs off Harry pokes a hole in the package, dips her finger in, and licks the tip to test the purity.
* In ''Film/DominickAndEugene'', Guido tricks Nicky into delivering a newspaper with drugs hidden inside. When Gino finds out, he takes the packet out of the newspaper, opens it, and tastes the powder inside.
* ''Film/AaronLovesAngela'': One of Beau's buyers dabs some cocaine on his tongue and gums, then yells, "The stuff is shit!"
* ''Film/{{Busting}}'': Keneely and Farrel break into crime lord Rizzo's apartment, where Farrel samples a white substance from a bottle and identifies it as baby powder.

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone''.
** The doctor puts a very-very-small amount of a mysterious substance on his finger and tastes it very cautiously. He is instantly able to tell it's cyanide.
** In the Russian movie adaption he smears a bit of the suspicious liquor on his palms and only sniffs them.
* 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}}...
* Mentioned in Creator/StephenFry's autobiography ''Moab Is My Washpot'', when he recounts the head boy at his prep school catching him with stolen sweets.
-->''"How many times do I have to tell you," I howled, "''[[FalseReassurance I haven't been to the village shop]]''!"\\
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure you haven't. And what have we got here then?"\\
If the memory weren't so absurdly anachronistic, I could almost swear that Pollock ripped open one of the flying saucers and put his tongue to the sherbet like a Hollywood cop tasting white powder.''

* ''The Curious Misadventures of Feltus Ovalton'' has Percy about to do this to a packet of concentrated itching powder; fortunately, Feltus stops him.

* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's mystery novel ''Murder at the ABA'', the protagonist finds a small pile of white powder in the murder victim's room, tastes it, and recognizes it as heroin. When he tries to report this discovery, [[ItWasHereISwear the powder is suddenly gone]].
* In Creator/DorothyGilman's ''Literature/TheClairvoyantCountess'', Lt. Pruden works out the Syndicate's intentions by testing some heroin like this.
* ''[[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).
* Creator/LindseyDavis:
** ''Literature/MarcusDidiusFalco''. [[FriendOnTheForce Petronius]] kicks a member of his vigiles who's about to do this, as the man they've just found has apparently committed suicide from drinking poison.
** In ''The Course of Honour'' by the same author, a teenaged Vespasian tries it with the drink that just killed his friend Britannicus. It nearly kills him, too.
* In the Literature/AbleTeam novel "Army of Devils", a cop does this with the "[[SyntheticPlague crazy dust]]" and has to be restrained from attacking his colleagues in BerserkerRage.
* The titular hero of ''Literature/{{Eragon}}'' tries this with a mysterious canteen he finds while tracking the Ra'Zac. It ends up eating through a few layers of skin, though Brom commends him for having the good sense not to try and drink it.
* ''Literature/TheBlackIce'': Detective Literature/HarryBosch does this when finding a sack of sugar in Cal Moore's apartment. Turns out it really was sugar.
* ''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.

[[folder: Web Original]]

* 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]]

* Most definitely averted with regards to certain high-end opioids such as forms of fentanyl that are so toxic that police have been hospitalized for simply allowing the drug to contact their ''skin''.

* 'Series/{{CSI}}'':

* Gill Grissom gets called out on this ''twice'' in ''Series/{{CSI}}'': early in the show, while trying to understand a woman's disappearance in a supermarket, he finds a yellow smudge on the floor and performs the fingertip dip taste test. Captain Brass, who was hovering nearby, winces in disgust and goes "[[DeadpanSnarker Oh,]] ''[[SarcasmMode that's]]'' [[DeadpanSnarker sanitary.]]" Luckily for Grissom, it was just mustard. But the second time he does it, much later in the series, it's Catherine who warns him that one of these days he'll really regret doing that.

* ''Literature/MarcusDidiusFalco''. [[FriendOnTheForce Petronius]] kicks a member of his vigiles who's about to do this, as the man they've just found has apparently committed suicide from drinking poison.

* 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 proceeds to taste it and reply "that's chocolate". Her sister responds with a disgusted "What if it were poop?"

* 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 proceeds to taste it and reply "that's chocolate". Her sister responds with a disgusted "What if it were poop?"