The Criminal Justice System: A Guide for Law Enforcement ... - NHTSA

TOXICOLOGISTS
The prosecutor will ask you what you did with the sample in this case:
• What was the condition of the blood/urine sample (explain the condition it
was in when received—sealed, clearly labeled, no signs of tampering, etc.)?
• Did you follow established lab protocols—rules—when conducting the tests?
• Please provide a brief, non-scientific description of the lab instruments used.
• What were the results—cocaine, methamphetamine, etc. present?
• If urine, explain how long prior to the taking of the sample the drug was in the
blood and thus affecting the person’s brain.
• Explain the effects of the drug on a person (sleepy, hyper, hard to concentrate,
slows reaction times, etc.).
• Explain the potential for wide variations in a drug’s effect—new versus
experienced user, amount taken (over what period of time), other drugs being
used at the same time (“synergistic effect” 1 + 1 > 2), “going up” or “coming
down” off the drug.
• Discuss the physical and mental abilities needed to safely drive a car.
• Discuss how the effects of the drug interfere with driving a car (e.g., delayed
reaction time means the driver is slower to notice (even in split seconds) the
light turning from green to red; and in that split second of not braking, the car
has traveled further down the road.
• Are you able to give an opinion that on this date, at this time, this defendant
was impaired by this drug to a degree that made him unable to drive safely?
The Need to Use Ordinary Language
Part of your job in testifying is to take a potentially complex or unfamiliar term
and convert it into ordinary language. While you won’t be testifying to a group of
kindergarten children, it is helpful to think back to your late grade school/early high
school days and the vocabulary you used at that time. Common toxicology terms defined
in laymen’s terms include:
Route of Administration - how the drug gets into the person’s body
• Oral - taken by mouth; swallowed
• Inhalation - breathed in through nose and/or mouth
• Intravenous - injected with a needle, similar to getting a shot at the doctor’s office
• Smoking - as with a cigarette, cigar, or pipe but perhaps in another form, such as a
small glass tube open at both ends to suck smoke through one’s mouth
• Intranasal – drug placed directly into the nose where it is absorbed by the skin
inside the nose and breathed in deeply
• Dermal - through the skin, as with a patch used to quit smoking
Absorption - getting the drug into the body (following “route of administration”)
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