PDF Toxicology 101 Arizona Problem Solving Courts April 25, 2016

Toxicology 101

Arizona Problem Solving Courts April 25, 2016

Aaron Brown, Ph.D. Technical Group Lead

Norchem Drug Testing Laboratory Cordant Health Solutions Flagstaff, Arizona

Toxicology

Toxicology is defined as the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. Forensic toxicology is the use of toxicology along with analytical chemistry, pharmacology and clinical chemistry to aid medical or legal investigation of death, poisoning, and drug use.

Page 2

Forensic Toxicology Process

Collections Chain of Custody

Accessioning Screening tests Validity tests Confirmation tests Common Analytes Alcohol vs EtG/EtS Synthetics/Designer drugs

Page 3

Forensic Toxicology Process

Collections Chain of Custody

Accessioning Screening tests Validity tests Confirmation tests Common Analytes Alcohol vs EtG/EtS Synthetics/Designer drugs

Page 4

Types of Samples

Urine Most common matrix Need to be looking for correct analyte (parent vs. metabolite) Very dependent upon metabolism and detection windows High concentration of analytes Relatively inexpensive Large sample volume Cannot be related to impairment Short term use (1-7 days) Collection difficulties/regulations

Page 5

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download