Forensic Toxicology Blog
Evidence-based articles about toxicology, expert testimony, legal developments, alcohol, drugs, and forensic testing.
Admission Samples in a Residual-THC Study Were Not Automatically Baseline Measurements
The first sample collected after admission to detoxification is not automatically a stable residual-THC baseline. In a study of heavy cannabis users, some participants had smoked only an hour or two before entering treatment. The investigators explicitly cautioned against treating every first-day result as a baseline concentration. Admission and last…
An Endogenous Pain Pathway Worked Independently of Endocannabinoid Mechanisms in Rodents
A rodent study found pain-related benefits from activating an endogenous adenosine pathway independently of opioid and endocannabinoid mechanisms. Endogenous pain modulation is therefore not automatically evidence of cannabinoid-receptor involvement. The intervention targeted adenosine signaling Researchers increased endogenous adenosine through kinase inhibition and separately tested a selective A3-receptor agonist. Receptor blockade…
Cannabis in a Mixed-Drug Fatality Series: Hair and Blood Answer Different Exposure Questions
A Danish methadone-fatality study reported extensive mixed-drug exposure, including cannabis, and used segmental hair analysis to extend the exposure history beyond blood testing. That additional history was not proof of simultaneous intoxication from every listed substance. The two matrices supplied different information The study examined fatalities with both blood and…
A Refractory Cancer-Pain Review’s Cannabinoid Option Was Not an Evidence-Based Ranking of Add-On Treatments
A 2015 review included cannabinoids among options for refractory cancer pain while describing weak benefit evidence across the reviewed drug strategies. Inclusion on a treatment-options list did not establish superiority or a favorable outcome for every patient. Refractory pain was a specific clinical question The review concerned pain not adequately…
Alcohol and Nicotine Histories Blunted a CB1 Challenge in Rat Striatal Slices
After repeated ethanol or nicotine exposure, a CB1 agonist no longer produced the same synaptic response in rat striatal slices as in controls. This was a cannabinoid-receptor challenge within an alcohol–nicotine experiment, not a trial of cannabis consumption. Behavioral and slice experiments addressed linked questions Repeated intermittent ethanol or nicotine…
Spinal Endocannabinoids Stayed Unchanged Despite Other Regional Findings in a Mouse Morphine Study
A mouse study of prolonged HIV-protein exposure and escalating morphine found region-dependent lipid and inflammatory changes. Spinal endocannabinoid levels were not affected by morphine in the reported comparison, even though other biological measures changed. The exposures were not cannabis treatment The experiment used a transgenic HIV-1 Tat model and morphine…
Cannabis Co-Detection in Adolescent Alcohol Intoxication Was Not Equivalent to Active Co-Intoxication
A hospital study of adolescent alcohol intoxication frequently detected additional substances, including cannabis. However, qualitative detection was much more common than concentrations the investigators classified as pharmacologically active. Those are different findings. The study sampled a selected clinical population The prospective single-center study included patients aged sixteen or younger presenting…
Cannabinoid Effects on Gastric Emptying Cannot Be Explained by Isolated Intestinal Tissue Alone
A gastrointestinal review described contributions from both brain and enteric CB1 receptors to cannabinoid effects on gastric emptying and intestinal transit. An isolated intestinal preparation cannot capture all of those whole-organism influences. Different preparations measured different endpoints The review summarized delayed gastric emptying and slower marker transit in whole organisms…
Return of Spasticity After Stopping THC–CBD Medicine Is Different From a Withdrawal Syndrome
Symptoms can return when an effective medicine is stopped without that return alone establishing drug withdrawal. A 2012 Sativex review distinguished recurrence of treated symptoms from the physiological or psychological dependence question. The medicine treated an underlying condition The review concerned a specified THC–CBD preparation used for multiple-sclerosis spasticity. The…
A Historical Malaysian Youth Survey’s Cannabis Percentage Was a Local Snapshot, Not Current National Prevalence
A 1979 report described cannabis use in a survey of children aged twelve to sixteen in three Malaysian areas. Its cannabis percentage belongs to that historical sample; it cannot establish present-day use across Malaysia or another country. The denominator defines the statement The field survey reported cannabis use in 2.7…
PEA Activated and Desensitized TRPV1 in Cells While Cannabinoid-Receptor Blockers Were Ineffective
A cell study linked palmitoylethanolamide effects to TRPV1 and PPAR-alpha rather than the tested cannabinoid receptors. Membership in a related lipid-signaling family did not establish CB1 or CB2 mediation of the measured response. The observations came from defined cell preparations Investigators measured intracellular calcium in differentiated F11 cells and examined…
CB1 Blockade Reduced NSAID Antinociception in a Rat Brain-Circuit Experiment
Blocking CB1 in the anterior cingulate cortex reduced the tested antinociceptive effects of NSAIDs in rats. Although the paper's title discusses tolerance, its supplied abstract describes acute drug-response findings, which should not be relabeled as proof of a tolerance-prevention intervention. The route targeted a particular brain region Investigators microinjected NSAIDs,…
