Examination of Firearms Review: 2007 to 2010 - Interpol

ains, with very low concentrations in femoral venous blood (738 mg/kg vs. 5
mg/L and 1008 mg/kg vs. 228 mg/L) and other postmortem specimens [476].
Toxicological analysis of a fatality involving a woman who ingested an
unknown quantity of a pine oil-containing product was reported [ 477 ].
Postmortem blood, urine, and stomach content levels of 1-alpha-terpineol
analyzed by GC-MS were 276 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L, and 4.0 g/total contents,
respectively, and isopropanol levels analysed by GC-FID were 730 mg/dL, 20
mg/dL, and 1000 mg/dL, respectively, with no acetone detected.
3.5.1.2 Abused drugs
A study on the gender differences in pharmacokinetics for opiates using male
and female Wistar rats showed that the maximal contents of opiates in blood of
both genders were found in the second measurement time (15 min), and faster
distribution of opiates from blood to brain in the female compared to male rats
[ 478 ]. Human subjects, who received 16 mg buprenorphine and 4 mg
naloxone, were found to have naloxone detected up to 2 h in three subjects
and up to 4 h in one subject, with mean maximum concentration was 0.139 ±
0.062 ng/mL. In urine samples taken 24 h after administration, about 55% of
the daily dose was excreted in urine in either conjugated or unconjugated
forms of naloxone and nornaloxone [479]. There has been an increased
awareness of illicit opiate abusers using the narcotic oxymorphone (Opana) by
inhalation. Two oxymorphone-involved fatalities were analyzed using GC-MS.
Concentrations of oxymorphone in blood samples of the deceased were 0.05
mg/L and 0.12 mg/L, respectively [480].
A study examining the plasma pharmacokinetics of MDMA and metabolites
using controlled oral administration of MDMA in young adults found that the
mean maximum plasma concentrations of 162.9 ± 39.8 and 171.9 ± 79.5
ng/mL were observed for MDMA and HMMA, respectively, at low dose (1.0
mg/kg), and that the mean half-lives of MDMA, and HMMA were approximately
7 to 8 hours, and 11.5 to 13.5 hours, respectively [481]. Three cases of MA
related fatalities were reported [482,483,484]. In one case, about 3 g of MA
was swallowed, the MA concentration in the hospital blood taken
approximately 12 h after ingestion was 3.0 mg/L, and that in the femoral blood
from autopsy was 30 mg/L [482]. The other two cases involved MA body
packers that were believed to be poisoned due to MA leakage from the
packages into the stomach. The MA concentration was found to be 8.6 mg/L in
plasma 17 h before death, and 63.5 mg/L in the postmortem cardiac blood in
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