Toxicological Findings in Fatal Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario,Canada: A One‐Year Study

Drug‐impaired driving is a complex area of forensic toxicology due in part to limited data concerning the type of drugs involved and the concentrations detected. This study analyzed toxicological findings in drivers from fatal motor vehicle collisions (FMVCs) in Ontario, Canada, over a one‐year period using a standardized protocol. Of the 229 cases included in the study, 56% were positive for alcohol and/or drugs. After alcohol, cannabis was the most frequently encountered substance (27%), followed by benzodiazepines (17%) and antidepressants (17%). There were differences in drugs detected by age but no marked difference in drugs detected between single and multiple FMVC's. Not all drugs detected were considered impairing either due to drug type, concentration or case history. The findings indicate the importance of comprehensive drug testing in FMVCs and highlight the need to consider a variety of factors, in addition to drug type and concentration, when assessing the role of drugs in driving impairment.     

当前边境地区走私、贩运毒品犯罪的特点研究

当前,受国际毒潮的影响,我国的毒品犯罪形势日趋严峻和复杂。而在毒品犯罪中,走私、贩运毒品犯罪占相当大的比 例。当前,边境地区的毒品犯罪呈现出策略灵活多变,雇佣贩毒突出,利用现代交通、通讯工具进行毒品的走私、贩运,人体藏匿毒品形 成新高潮等特点,需要予以重视。     

论零包贩卖毒品案件证据的收集判定

零包贩卖毒品是毒品流通的最后环节 ,其流通方式以单线联系、秘密交易、人货分离为主。收集证据要注意合法性、及时性和客观全面性 ,审判各类证据真伪 ,使证据真实 ,有力打击毒品犯罪。     

DRUG USE AND DESISTANCE PROCESSES

Sampson and Laub's age‐graded theory of informal social control emphasizes the importance of adult social bonds such as marriage and stable employment in redirecting behavior in a more prosocial direction. Heavy alcohol use has also been shown to influence persistent patterns of offending as well as more episodic offending across the life course. Sampson and Laub's life‐course theory emphasizes the negative impact of alcohol use on marital and employment bonds. Although alcohol has indeed been shown to have significant effects on criminal offending, we argue that drug use and the drug culture in which many contemporary offenders are enmeshed have consequences that often complicate desistance processes in ways that alcohol does not. Drug use and its lifestyle concomitants bring together a host of distinctive social dynamics that compromise multiple life domains. The current project investigates the role of drug use on desistance processes relying on a contemporary sample of previously institutionalized youth. We draw on three waves of data from the Ohio life‐course study, a project that spans some 21 years. The results support the assertion that drug use exerts unique effects on desistance processes, once levels of alcohol use are taken into account. We investigate possible mechanisms that help to explain the differential impact of drug use on offending and find that social network effects, particularly partner criminality, explain some but not all of the negative impact of drug use on life‐course patterns of criminal offending.     

没有处方买到处方药而引发纠纷的案件分析与思考

药物与人们的生命健康息息相关,也是引发医疗纠纷和诉讼的重要因素。我国目前在保护公众用药安全的制度方面还存在较大的问题,为保护人民用药安全,我国应当尽快出台药品分类管理条例和执业药师法,加快药品分类管理制度和执业药师制度的建设。     

Selectivity of identification of compounds from the group of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE-5i) in falsified products from the Polish market using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction

Falsified drugs are a growing problem and a great threat all over the world. Searching for easy, fast, not expensive and reproducible methods for identification of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is an important issue. The application of ATR-IR technique for identification of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE-5i) in falsified products from the Polish market has been demonstrated. Furthermore, the strategy of confirmation of the product's originality in a quick and easy way has been developed. The advantages of this application are: exceptional simplicity, very short measurement time, high selectivity in relation to structurally similar substances and almost no sample preparation. After validation, developed strategy has been successfully introduced into routine analysis.     

Wrongful convictions and claims of false or misleading forensic evidence

The results are reported of a study to examine case factors associated with 732 wrongful convictions classified by the National Registry of Exonerations as being associated with “False or Misleading Forensic Evidence.” A forensic error typology has been developed to provide a structure for the categorization and coding of factors relating to misstatements in forensic science reports; errors of individualization or classification; testimony errors; issues relating to trials and officers of the court; and evidence handling and reporting issues. This study, which included the analysis of 1391 forensic examinations, demonstrates that most errors related to forensic evidence are not identification or classification errors by forensic scientists. When such errors are made, they are frequently associated with incompetent or fraudulent examiners, disciplines with an inadequate scientific foundation, or organizational deficiencies in training, management, governance, or resources. More often, forensic reports or testimony miscommunicate results, do not conform to established standards, or fail to provide appropriate limiting information. Just as importantly, actors within the broader criminal justice system—but not under the purview of any forensic science organization—may contribute to errors that may be related to the forensic evidence. System issues include reliance on presumptive tests without confirmation by a forensic laboratory, use of independent experts outside the administrative control of public laboratories, inadequate defense, and suppression or misrepresentation of forensic evidence by investigators or prosecutors. In approximately half of wrongful convictions analyzed, improved technology, testimony standards, or practice standards may have prevented a wrongful conviction at the time of trial.     

I shop online – recreationally! Internet anonymity and Silk Road enabling drug use in Australia

Internet technologies are beginning to influence the sale and supply of illicit drugs in Australia. One such technology, an online marketplace known as Silk Road, had dramatically increased in popularity since its worldwide launch in February 2011. This research and paper were completed prior to the Silk Road's founder, Ross Ulbricht being arrested on 2 October 2013 and Silk Road being taken off line. This research paper will consider such factors; as the increasing use of internet by Australians, the popularity of shopping online and the variance in the quality and price of products available on Silk Road to those available in other drug markets. The case study will provide an in-depth look at Silk Road from an Australian perspective and in light of the continuing popularity of illicit drug use in Australia. Though Silk Road is currently off line, ‘Bitcoin’ has survived and it will only be a matter of time before a substitute for Silk Road emerges.     

GC/MS检验不同案件中摇头丸

目的 分析不同案件缴获的“摇头丸”主要成分和添加物,为确定“摇头丸”的合成路线、非法来源提供依据.方法 以GC/MS检测法为主要检测方法.结果 检验的14个“摇头丸”主要成分为甲基苯丙胺和咖啡因,其中含有少量的其他杂质如麻黄碱和氯胺酮等.结论 检测的14个“摇头丸”样本其中12个含甲基苯丙胺,实为冰毒成分,1个为咖啡因均不属于摇头丸.     

Glamorizing sick bodies: how commercial advertising has changed the representation of HIV/AIDS

As a consequence of pharmaceutical advancements, HIV is no longer described in terms of the absence of health or presence of illness, and advertisements promoting anti-AIDS medications commercialize idealized and desirable bodies. The present study discusses representations of HIV/AIDS in commercial advertising and their change over time. The article traces the shift in AIDS/HIV representations in commercial advertising from the early 1990s, when images of decay and disease represented AIDS, to nowadays, when the wider availability of antiretroviral medications and their ability to prolong life produced new representations of HIV-afflicted bodies. Claiming that HIV individuals can lead a normal life where everything is possible, advertising has re-established the definition of a sick body. On the other hand, this marketing approach has important social implications because such representations minimize the seriousness of HIV infection and fail to take into account the real dangers of contracting HIV and to accurately represent the life with HIV and AIDS.