by B Zedeck
InsIde ForensIc scIence
Forensic Pharmacology
InsIde ForensIc scIence
Forensic Anthropology
Forensic dnA Analysis
Forensic Medicine
Forensic Pharmacology
Legal Aspects of Forensics
The Forensic Aspects of Poisons
InsIde ForensIc scIence
Forensic Pharmacology
Beth E. Zedeck, MSW, RN, MSN
and Morris S. Zedeck, Ph.D.
SERIES EDITOR | Lawrence Kobilinsky, Ph.D.
The authors are proud to have worked as a father and daughter team on
this project and wish to thank Dr. Zedeck’s wife, Ellen Lieberman, Esq.,
for her assistance and thoughtful suggestions during
the preparation of this book.
Forensic Pharmacology
Copyright © 2007 by Infobase Publishing
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zedeck, Beth E.
Forensic pharmacology / Beth E. Zedeck and Morris S. Zedeck.
p. cm. — (Inside forensic science)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7910-8920-7 (hardcover)
1. Forensic pharmacology. I. Zedeck, Morris S. II. Title.
RA1160.Z43 2006
614'.1—dc22
2006020624
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Table of
Contents
1 Introduction: The Role of the
Forensic Pharmacologist
1
2 Pharmacokinetics and
Pharmacodynamics
12
3 Drug Analysis
24
4 Drug Abuse and Teenager Statistics
38
5 Cannabinoids
47
6 Central Nervous System Stimulants
55
7 Central Nervous System Depressants 66
8 Opioids
80
9 Hallucinogens
88
10 Dissociative Anesthetics
97
11 Inhalants
103
12 Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids
109
13 The Future of Forensic
Pharmacology
114
14 Solve the Cases!
118
Notes
121
Glossary
122
Bibliography
126
Further Reading
131
Index
134
Introduction:
The Role of
the Forensic
1
Pharmacologist
Today, through television, most Americans have been exposed
to the application of forensic science to the justice system.
Programs such as Law and Order, CSI, Crossing Jordan, Cold Case Files, Forensic Files, and American Justice feature police activities, forensic laboratory technology, and courtroom procedures.
These programs have made the public aware of the important
role that forensic science plays in the criminal justice system,
and enrollment in criminal justice and forensic science courses
in college and high school has increased markedly within the
last 10 years.
As a result of increased exposure to the work of forensic scien-
tists, juror selection has become more difficult, since jurors now
expect prosecutors to provide evidence as easily and as rapidly
as seen on television. In selecting a jury panel, lawyers are aware
that these television programs may influence jurors (called the
“CSI effect”) and the absence of expected evidence might work
against the prosecutor in criminal cases.
Public attention is also drawn to the death of celebrities result-
ing from drug overdose. For example, Janis Joplin, the blues
singer, overdosed on heroin, actor River Phoenix and comedian
Forensic Pharmacology
John Belushi both overdosed on speedballs, a mixture of heroin
and cocaine, and college basketball star Len Bias and Cleveland
Browns football player Don Rogers both overdosed on cocaine.
Have you ever wondered how scientists determine whether a
drug was involved in a particular case, and whether the amount
of drug is considered an overdose and thus was the cause of death?
Today many job applicants must submit a pre-employment urine
sample to test for the presence of drugs, and random urine tests
are performed on many individuals in high-stress jobs, includ-
ing police officers, firefighters, pilots, and truck drivers. Have
you wondered how such tests are performed to determine pres-
ence and quantity of drug? Are you curious to learn why alcohol
is detected in breath samples? All of these issues fall under the
broad heading of forensic science.
WHAT IS FORENSIC SCIENCE?
Forensic science can be defined as the application of science
to legal issues. The role of science in resolving legal matters
has increased substantially over the last 50 years. During this
period, major advances in technology and information gather-
ing have been made in the areas of medicine, molecular biol-
ogy, analytical chemistry, computer science, and microscopy.
Because the information and methodologies in these areas of
science are so vast and complex, the law has become dependent
on testimony by scientists to help unravel complex legal cases
involving biological and physical evidence. Areas of science that
may require explanation by experts include pharmacology, the
study of all effects of chemicals on living organisms, and toxi-
cology, the study of the toxic or adverse effects of chemicals,
which are both the subjects of this book. There are other areas
that require expert testimony, including DNA analysis, foren-
sic medicine (anatomy and pathology), forensic odontology
Introduction: The Role of the Forensic Pharmacologist
Figure 1.1 Pharmacologist Dr. Donald H. Catli
n sits in front of an
LC/MS/MS system, an instrument used for detecting drugs from urine
samples, at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. Catlin is noted
for developing a breakthrough test that detects the illegal steroid,
tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), taken by athletes to enhance performance.
(dentistry), criminalistics (analysis of physical evidence such
as hair, fibers, blood, paint, glass, soil, arson-related chemicals,
and solid drug samples), questioned document examination
(analysis of inks and papers), forensic engineering (accident
reconstruction, environmental and construction analysis),
firearm and toolmark analysis, forensic anthropology (analysis
of bodily remains), forensic entomology (analysis of insects on
deceased individuals to determine time of death), forensic psy-
chology, voice pattern analysis, fingerprint analysis, and foren-
sic nursing (effects of sexual assault and trauma).
A pharmacologist is a scientist who, in addition to being
trained in the principles of pharmacology, studies other
Forensic Pharmacology
disciplines, including physiology, biochemistry, chemistry,
molecular biology, statistics, and pathology, and usually pos-
sesses a Ph.D. degree (Figure 1.1). Pharmacology programs
require a minimum of four years of graduate study, including
a doctoral dissertation of original research. Chemicals studied
by a pharmacologist may be natural (from plants or animals)
or synthetic, and may include medicinals, drugs of abuse, poi-
sons, carcinogens, and industrial chemicals. The pharmacologist
must understand how chemicals interact with the most basic
cell components such as receptors and DNA, and must explain
how such interactions produce the observed results. The phar-
macologist studies chemicals for their beneficial or therapeutic
effects as well as their adverse or toxic effects. A toxicologist,
usually someone with a Ph.D. degree, uses the same principles of
science as the pharmacologist but generally studies only toxic or
adverse effects of chemicals. Others working in a pharmacology
or toxicology laboratory often have master or bachelor of science
degrees in various specialties and are trained in experimentation
and analytical procedures.
One of the basic principles of toxicology is that chemicals that
are safe in appropriate doses can become toxic in higher doses.
Even too much water can become toxic. Pharmacologists and
toxicologists rely on dose-response tests, in which the effects
of drugs are measured at different doses to see the relationship
between dose and effect and, as the dosage increases, how the
effect can quickly go from no effect to a desired effect to a toxic
effect level. When studying chemicals, it is important to keep in
mind a phrase of the famous fifteenth-century alchemist and
physician Paracelsus (born Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus
Bombastus von Hohenheim): “Is there anything that is not a
poison? Everything is poison, and nothing is without poison.
The dose alone makes a thing poisonous.”1
Introduction: The Role of the Forensic Pharmacologist
This book will focus on forensic pharmacology and drugs of
abuse. Drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, PCP,
benzodiazepines, and methamphetamine, are often involved in
criminal and civil matters concerning personal injury, motor vehi-
cle accidents, drug overdose, and murder, and thus, are discussed
to illustrate forensic pharmacology issues and investigations.
What is forensic pharmacology and how does it differ from
forensic toxicology? Both disciplines attempt to answer the ques-
tion of whether a chemical was causally related to an individual’s
behavior, illness, injury, or death. The effect of the chemical
might occur soon after exposure (an acute effect) or a long time
after exposure (a chronic effect). To establish what caused the
effect, scientists examine bodily tissues and fluids for the pres-
ence of drugs and, using different analytical techniques, identify
chemicals and determine their concentration. Besides the obvi-
ous fluids of blood and urine, analysis can be performed on nails,
hair, bone, semen, amniotic fluid, stomach contents, breast milk,
vitreous humor (the fluid inside the eyeball), sweat, and saliva.
What fluids and tissues are analyzed depends on the type of case
and whether the subject is alive or deceased. Understanding of
the chemical’s pharmacodynamics, the mechanisms that bring
about physiological and pathological changes, and pharmacoki-
netics, how the chemical is absorbed, distributed, metabolized,
and excreted, are important in establishing a causal relation-
ship. For example, once the concentration of a chemical and its
metabolites in blood and/or urine are determined, it might be
possible to determine when the drug was administered or taken.
Interpretation of the findings, in relation to other facts and evi-
dence in the case, may help solve a crime. On occasion, any items
at a crime scene that may be drug related, such as syringes or vials
containing a solution, are also brought to the forensic laboratory
for analysis.
Forensic Pharmacology
FORENSIC SCIENTISTS AT WORK
Most often, pharmacologists conduct research programs while
employed in private, government, and commercial research lab-
oratories, hospitals, and academic institutions. A pharmacolo-
gist may be contacted by an attorney and asked to consult or
testify as an expert witness in legal matters that may be either
criminal or civil and for the plaintiff or defendant (Figure 1.2).
Attorneys learn of expert witnesses from advertisements in legal
newspapers and journals, and by calling referral agencies that
maintain lists of specialists in areas of medicine, science, engi-
neering, finance, construction, aviation, and so on.
Interpretation of chemical data obtained from analysis of
bodily fluids and tissues by a pharmacologist may help attorneys
Figure 1.2 In the photograph above, Dr. Jo Ellen Dyer, a pharmacist
and toxicologist who specializes in GHB and sexual assault, serves as
an expert witness at the rape trial of Max Factor heir, Andrew Luster. In
2003, Luster was convicted of raping a series of women after he used
GHB, a “date rape” drug, to seduce his victims.
Introduction: The Role of the Forensic Pharmacologist
determine the role of a drug in an individual’s behavior or death.
If, for example, analysis shows a deceased person was under the
influence of drugs, such data along with other facts in the case
may help determine if death was due to an accidental overdose,
suicide, or homicide by poisoning. In murder cases, it is impor-
tant to know whether the deceased was under the influence of
drugs. The prosecutor is interested, since it may explain the
behavior of the deceased just before death, and the results may
suggest to the defense attorney that a defendant charged with
murder could have acted in self-defen
se. In civil lawsuits result-
ing from motor vehicle accidents or injuries from falls, whether
those involved were under the influence of drugs may be an
important factor.
The forensic pharmacologist will first review analytic reports
to determine whether the data support the attorney’s position.
The review will focus on the positive aspects as well as on any
areas that may be problematic in the case. The findings are pre-
sented to the attorney along with information that will help the
attorney understand the science. If the pharmacologist’s opinion
is supportive, the attorney may request a written report. In many
civil lawsuits, the use of experts results in settlements rather than
trials. If the case goes to trial and the pharmacologist is expected
to testify, the pharmacologist will assist the attorney in preparing
a proper examination so that the testimony presented to the jury
will be a clear and understandable explanation of the findings.
Finally, the pharmacologist may assist the attorney in preparing
a cross-examination of the opposing side’s expert witness.
Forensic toxicologists are generally employed by federal, state,
and local government crime laboratories, which may be affiliated
with the medical examiner’s office from which they receive fluids
and tissues for analysis. They often work on criminal cases and
usually testify for the office of the district attorney, the prosecu-
tor. Forensic toxicologists may also be involved in drug testing in
8
Forensic Pharmacology
History of Pharmacology
and Toxicology
The science of pharmacology began with Rudolf Buch-
heim, a German pharmacologist who lived between 1820
and 1879. At the University of Dorpat in Russia (now Tartu
in Estonia), he built a laboratory and began a systematic
study of drug action. A pupil of Buchheim, Oswald Schmie-
deberg succeeded Buchheim at Dorpat in 1866. Later,
Schmiedeberg moved to Strasbourg, France, and devel-
oped a very successful program in pharmacology. Students
came from al over the world. One of the students was John
Jacob Abel, who then returned to the United States and
became chairman of the first pharmacology department
