NCJ Number
114513
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 33 Issue: 6 Dated: (November 1988) Pages: 1421-1431
Date Published
1988
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Cannabinoid use was studied in a nonspecific population of postmortem urine specimens in the State of Maryland.
Abstract
Of 500 sequential specimens screened for cannabinoids by enzymemultiplied immunoassay EMIT, 63 (13 percent) were initially positive and 58 (12 percent) were confirmed positive (92 percent). It was observed that geographic location and race did not correlate with cannabinoid prevalence. Cannabinoid use was observed to be strongly age related, with peak use by the 21- to 25-year-old age group where 22 percent of the cases were positive. Use of cannabinoids was also closely linked to homicides, which represented nearly half of the positive cases, but only 13 percent of the total cases. When comparing manner of death, the greatest percent of confirmed positives was seen in homicide (26 percent) and drug-related (17 percent) deaths. The incidence of cannabinoid use was found to be more than 3 times as great in drug-related (17 percent) as compared to natural deaths (5 percent). The percent of cannabinoid-positive cases from vehicle related accidents was low (6 percent) and that from nonvehicle related accidents somewhat higher (10 percent). Other drugs appeared in cannabinoid-positive cases. Most prevalent was ethanol N=18, followed by morphine (from heroin, N=11), quinine N=11, and cocaine N=11. Phencyclidine (PCP) occurred twice and several other drugs were reported only once. Of the 25 homicide cases screened for drugs, 65 percent were positive for some drug including ethyl alcohol. Thus it appears that a high percentage of homicide cases are drug related. Males greatly outnumbered females (56:2) in positive cases, but the number of female specimens received was small. (Author abstract)