Forensic Toxicology

The study of drugs and chemicals on biological systems

Application of toxicology to cases and issues where adverse effects of the use of impairing, toxic, and lethal concentrations of drugs have adminsitrative or medicolegal consequences science+law

Medical examiner labs Crime labs military/ government facilities Private sector facilities Hospitals Universities Industries

NMS Did tox for OJ, michael jackson, jon bent, etc.

study of the effects of drugs on humans

chemical designed to have a biochemical or physiological effect

Substance with life-threatening effect

Chemically changed form of drug or poison

Branch of pharmacology concerned with the movement of drugs throughout the body What the body does to the drug

Study of how drugs act in the body What the drug does to the body

Absoprtion, distribution, metabolism, excretion descrobes the dispotition of a pharmaceutical compound with an organizm all influence the drug levels and kinetics of drug exposure to the tissues influence the performance and pharmacological activity of the compound of a drug

process of a drug being put into the body Small intestine Stomach: more acidic absorption

drugs making their way through the body

transferring drugs to a hydrophilic state in order to rid them of the body

drugs are no longer in the body, the process in which drugs leave the body

Death investigation Goal: were drugs the cause or contributing factor in death? Forensic pathologist Explain what caused each death Determine manner of death MASH Forensic toxicologist Assists by performing comprehensive analyses of a wide variety of toxins from a wide variety of tissue sources Usually done with blood, urine, SPF, bile

postmortem forensic toxicology forensic drug toxicology human performance tox

Workplace drug testing Testing urine/ blood (biofluids) from employees or job applicants Law usually allows for random drug testing only if they have certain occupatoins Teachers Customs Police officers Typically allowed when public safety is above the right to privacy Record keeping, CoC, data management, all extremely important here compliance monitoring doping

Drug and steroid use in sports Effects of drugs and alcohol on human performance and behavior Involved in an array of criminal investigations: Impaired driving Vehicular assault/ homicide Child custody/ abuse Drug-facilitated crimes (ex: sexual assault) Mainly blood and urine samples

Isolation Detection and Characterization (screening) Identification Quantification Interpretation

Isolate from the matrix (blood, urine, etc.)

Compare with quality controls and drug libraries

See what is present and then screen against other things

Seeing how much was present in the sample