Do drug users use less alcohol than non-drug users? A comparison of ethyl glucuronide concentrations in hair between the two groups in medico-legal cases

Two groups were selected from the remainder of hair samples that had been tested for drugs at TrichoTech for medico-legal cases: samples that tested negative (drug-negative group; N=42, age 33.4+/-7.2 years) and samples that tested positive for drugs (drug-positive group; N=57, age 32.5+/-8.8 years). A rapid, simple method to detect the ethanol metabolite, ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in hair has been developed. The hair samples were sectioned, and then submitted to overnight sonication in water. Samples then underwent SPE using anion exchange cartridges, followed by derivatisation with N,O-bis[trimethylsilyl]trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA), before confirmation by GC-MS/MS. The assay produced excellent linearity and sensitivity over the calibration range 0.02-1.0 ng/mg, assuming a 10 mg hair sample. The mean age of the two groups was not statistically different (p=0.575, Student t-test), indicating a homogeneous group. Twelve of the 57 (21.0%) hair samples of the drug-positive group tested positive for EtG, and 17 of the 42 (40.5%) hair samples of the drug-negative group tested positive for EtG. The mean concentration of EtG in the drug-positive group was 0.011 ng/mg compared to 0.107 ng/mg in the drug-negative group. When the full results of this study were subjected to statistical analysis it was shown that EtG levels in the drug-negative group were statistically higher than those found in the drug-positive group (p<0.05). This preliminary finding may be of use in the study of addiction and adds valuable data to previous studies regarding the use of EtG as a valuable marker for alcohol levels in hair.     

Conflict of laws and the cloud

Cloud technology offers wonderful potential for users in terms of convenience, ease of obtaining updates etc. However, it presents significant legal challenges. Our laws, largely based on notions of territoriality, struggle to respond to technology in which lines on maps are largely irrelevant. In this article, I articulate some of the specific challenges. The law of contract, tort and national regulation might all apply to a claim of breach of privacy in relation to material uploaded to the cloud. Unfortunately, each of the jurisdictions studied would approach the issues in different ways, potentially creating significant confusion. The article proposes a need for international co-operation and agreement on these matters.     

Criminal personality profiling

In this work we examine outcome and process differences in criminal personality profiling among groups of profilers, detectives, psychologists, and students, using closed police cases—one sex offense and one homicide. Two major questions guide this research: (1) Are professional profilers more accurate than nonprofilers in generating personality profiles and correctly identifying offender features from crime scene details? and (2) Is the process that the profilers use qualitatively different from that of the nonprofilers? In the written profile task, the task that is most representative of what profilers actually do, profilers write richer, more detailed, and more valid profiles than the nonprofilers for both the sex offense case and homicide case. An analysis of correct responses concerning the known offender for the sex offense case revealed that the profilers scored significantly better than the other three groups in a variety of measures; similar results were not revealed for the homicide case. Profilers, however, do not appear to process this material in a way qualitatively different from any other group.