Category: Science

Science-focused analysis of toxicology, laboratory testing, drugs, alcohol, impairment, and the interpretation of technical evidence.

Edible vs. Vaporized Cannabis: Why Timing Changes the Evidence

The route of cannabis use changes the timing of both blood THC and observed effects. Controlled research shows delayed effects after edibles and rapidly falling blood THC after vaporization, even while performance effects continue.

Does THC Dilate Pupils? What Controlled Pupillography Found

The common claim that cannabis necessarily causes dilated pupils is too simple. A controlled pupillography study found reduced pupil size and a slower, less pronounced response to light after intravenous THC.

Postmortem Blood Alcohol: The Preanalytical Evidence That Can Change the Result

A postmortem ethanol number does not explain where the specimen came from, what happened before analysis, or whether some ethanol formed after death. A 2024 scientific review identifies the evidence needed to evaluate those questions.

How Accurate Are SCRAM and Other Transdermal Alcohol Monitors?

Wearable alcohol monitors measure alcohol vapor leaving the skin. They can provide a continuous record, but a transdermal alcohol curve is not the same measurement as breath or blood alcohol.

Two Blood Samples Do Not Prove a Universal Alcohol Elimination Rate

Subtracting two blood-alcohol results and dividing by time produces a number. It does not automatically prove that the same elimination rate applied before the first draw or to every person.

Cannabis and Alcohol Together: Impairment and Field Signs

Combined cannabis and alcohol evidence deserves careful analysis. A large Norwegian study found an additive relationship while also showing that most clinical field observations were poor indicators of THC influence.

Nail Drug Testing in Court: Records and Scientific Limits

Learn what nail drug testing may show, why contamination and timing matter, and which laboratory records lawyers should request before interpreting a result.

Breath-to-Blood Conversion: Scientific Limits and Records

A breath-alcohol instrument measures alcohol in a breath sample. It does not draw or analyze blood. When a breath result is discussed as though it were a blood-alcohol concentration, a conversion assumption connects two different biological measurements. That distinction is not merely semantic. It affects how a result should be…

Breath-Test Records Needed for Scientific Review

A breath-test ticket is only the summary. Learn which instrument, calibration, reference-material, operator, sequence, and audit records support scientific review.

Presumptive Amphetamine Urine Screens: What a Positive Immunoassay Does and Does Not Prove

A forensic review of presumptive amphetamine urine screens, cross-reactivity, confirmation, methamphetamine enantiomers, and limits on impairment claims.

Bariatric Surgery, Reflux, and Esophageal Stricture: What the Medical Record Must Establish

A medical-record framework for evaluating bariatric surgery, reflux, esophageal stricture, endoscopy, pathology, diagnosis, staging, and causation.

Methamphetamine Toxicology Lawyer and Expert Case Review

Legal and scientific review of methamphetamine evidence involving driving, postmortem redistribution, laboratory methods, and expert testimony.

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Recent Blog Articles

Can THC Analgesia Be Separated From Memory Effects? A Peptide Experiment in Mice

An experimental peptide preserved THC-related analgesic responses while preventing a memory-task deficit in mice. The result is a preclinical drug-development finding, not evidence that an available supplement makes cannabis use free of cognitive effects. Targeting a receptor interaction Gallo and colleagues investigated peptides designed to disrupt an interaction between cannabinoid…

Read Article: Can THC Analgesia Be Separated From Memory Effects? A Peptide Experiment in Mice

Can Cannabis Users Self-Titrate Across Different Potencies? What Blood Verification Adds

Different amounts of cannabis flower did not necessarily produce different measured THC-related blood exposure in a preliminary naturalistic study. The finding supports investigating self-titration, rather than assuming product potency alone determines absorbed dose. A three-day product assignment Bidwell and colleagues enrolled 24 male cannabis users and asked them to use…

Read Article: Can Cannabis Users Self-Titrate Across Different Potencies? What Blood Verification Adds

Prenatal THC and the Placenta: Why Normal Maternal Weight Did Not Exclude Fetal Effects in Rats

Normal maternal weight gain did not exclude fetal-growth and placental findings in a rat THC experiment. Different maternal and fetal endpoints can respond differently to the same exposure. The exposure and assessments The investigators administered THC or vehicle to pregnant Wistar rats during gestation. They assessed maternal food intake and…

Read Article: Prenatal THC and the Placenta: Why Normal Maternal Weight Did Not Exclude Fetal Effects in Rats