From testimony given at a grand-jury hearing last year by Sonja Farak, a former chemist at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory, in Amherst. In 2014, Farak pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. Drug standards are used to compare with drugs presented as evidence in court cases. Thomas Caldwell and Kim West are the assistant attorneys general. Peter Velis is the special assistant attorney general. The Amherst lab was closed in 2013.

thomas caldwell: Ms. Farak, growing up, did you ever have the opportunity to use drugs?