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Clandestine, or illegal, drug manufacturing laboratories have been established by the criminal element for the purpose of supplying drugs of abuse to the illicit market. This article will review the significant role of forensic scientists in identifying and immobilizing clandestine laboratories. To accomplish this role, the forensic scientist must be familiar with the methods of synthesis for the drugs being produced in these laboratories. As an aide to forensic scientists, the article will examine the drugs being synthesized in clandestine laboratories, the methods of synthesis commonly being used by clandestine laboratory operators, and the methods of chemical analysis that describe significant components present in evidential material seized at these laboratories which enable the method of synthesis to be determined.