Citation

Fiorentin TR, Logan BK. J. Forensic Leg. Med. 2018; 61: 56-64.

Affiliation

The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE), 2300 Stratford Ave, Willow Grove, PA, 19090, USA; NMS Labs, 2300 Welsh Rd, Willow Grove, PA, 19090, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jflm.2018.11.006

PMID

30453150

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the extent and types of drugs found in alleged drug facilitated sexual assaults (DFSA) in 37 states and 1 territory of the United States. In total, 1000 cases were reviewed. Between the cases that gender was provided (613), most of the victims (91.68%) were woman, mean age of 26.8 years old. Blood and/or urine samples were tested. Twenty-one point six percent of the cases were negative for intoxicating substances. A hundred and one different substances were detected. Overall, ethanol was the most prevalent substance, detected in 30.9% of the cases (309 cases), followed by cannabinoids (THC/THCCOOH/11-OH-THC) (28.8% of cases), amphetamine/methamphetamine (16.5% of cases), cocaine/metabolites (10.4% of cases), and clonazepam/metabolite (7.6% of cases). The mean, median and range concentrations of ethanol in blood (n = 309) were 98.6 mg/dL, 82.0 mg/dL and 9.2-366 mg/dL, respectively. Ethanol and cannabinoids were the most frequent combination found. The absence of alcohol and drugs in some cases may represent delay in collecting samples.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Alcohol; Date rape; Drug-facilitated sexual assault; Drugs of abuse; Toxicology