Forensic Toxicology Blog
Evidence-based articles about toxicology, expert testimony, legal developments, alcohol, drugs, and forensic testing.
Medetomidine or Medical Dexmedetomidine? Reviewing Source Attribution
How medication records, specimen timing, and enantiomer testing affect attribution of a medetomidine finding to illicit exposure.
Does a Positive 7-OH Test Identify the Product Someone Took?
Distinguish a 7-hydroxymitragynine finding from proof of an enriched product, dose, impairment, or a particular seller.
Medetomidine Withdrawal Evidence: Why the Timeline Matters
Review clinical phases, negative parent-drug results, co-withdrawal, and treatment records before assigning causation in medetomidine cases.
Emerging Drugs and “Fatal Ranges”: How to Evaluate Concentration Testimony
Why medetomidine case-series ranges cannot substitute for specimen-specific analysis, clinical context, and a reasoned cause-of-death opinion.
Drug Surveillance Statistics in Court: The Denominator Comes First
Evaluate medetomidine prevalence claims by sample source, testing coverage, geography, and the inference proposed for an individual case.
Postmortem Methamphetamine Evidence: A Litigation Checklist
A litigation-focused checklist for evaluating postmortem methamphetamine evidence, including sampling site, redistribution, tolerance, overlapping concentrations, and laboratory records.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
