NCJ Number
158064
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 40 Issue: 5 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 808-810
Date Published
1995
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This study used data compiled over a 12-month period from the Maryland Office of the Medical Examiner to evaluate the role of ethanol in heroin-related deaths.
Abstract
All cases were tested for ethanol, and therapeutic and controlled drugs using color tests, gas chromatography, and immunoassay. During the reporting period, 59 percent of the 119 deaths attributed to narcotic or narcotic and alcohol intoxication had a blood ethanol concentration of at least 0.02 g/dL. Of the 45 cases identified with either morphine or morphine and ethanol as incidental findings in deaths due to other causes, only 6.7 percent were associated with blood ethanol concentrations exceeding 0.02 g/dL. At all ranges of free morphine concentrations, there was a greater percentage of narcotic deaths associated with ethanol. 4 tables and 8 references