THE FORENSIC TOXICOLOGIST
The forensic toxicologist has a number of tasks that must be accomplished in order to reach conclusions about the role of a drug in causing death.
• Determine the identity of all drugs and poisons present in the body
• Determine the quantities of all drugs and poisons present at the time of death
• Determine which metabolites (secondary products of drugs as they are acted on by the liver) of these drugs are present
• Determine what interactions (e.g., synergisms) may exist among the particular combination of drugs that are present
• Help determine the history and patterns of drug use by the person involved and the role that drug dependence or addiction may play
• Help determine the role that tolerance may play
Of all of these tasks the most critical ones are the first two; the identification of the drugs and determination of their quantities. Drug identification will be covered later on in this chapter. For now, the factors that affect the ultimate concentration of drug in the human body will be discussed.
