Methamphetamine and alcohol detection in vehicle-driver fatalities in South Australia: A 10-year survey (2008-2018)

Methamphetamine use in homicide victims

Methamphetamine use is increasing in the Australian population. It has a known association with violent and erratic behaviour and with an increased risk of unnatural deaths. To determine whether victims of homicide have significant exposure to methamphetamine 100 randomly selected de-identified homicide cases from 2012 to 2021 were accessed from the Forensic Science SA (FSSA) Pathology Database to determine the type of homicide and whether methamphetamine was detected in the blood. A total of 76 males and 24 females were found (M:F = 3:1). Of these, 30 victims (30%) had methamphetamine detected in blood, consisting of 26 males and 4 females (M:F = 6:1; male age range 18-53 years, average 36.8 years; female age range 28-63 years average 44.8 years). Levels of methamphetamine ranged from 0.02 to 3.3 mg/L with an average of 0.64 mg/L, with the highest numbers of positive cases occurring in victims of gunshot wounds (45.5%), and the lowest in those with lethal blunt force trauma (23.5%). This study has demonstrated that victims of homicide in an Australian population are more likely to have used methamphetamine than members of the general population. The reasons for this remain unclear although involvement in a drug selling environment may be an important determinant.

Work-related and non-work-related fatal road accidents: Assessment of psychoactive substance use in commuting

Commuting road traffic collisions (RTCs) are one of the main causes of occupational death worldwide, including Italy. Among the prominent yet relatively understudied personal risk factors in the subpopulation of workers, there is the use of psychoactive substances. Since the phenomenon of driving under alcohol and drugs effects in the commuter sub-population has so far been poorly studied, we carried out a study by comparing results obtained from the analysis of commuters and non-commuters. The percentage of commuting RTCs victims was 10.4% out of all the RTCs. Commuter victims were mostly men, 51-60 years-old, motorcyclists (32.1%) or car drivers (28.6%), employees, deceased during Fridays and Saturdays, in the afternoon (35.7%) and in the evening (32.1%). It was possible to perform toxicological analyses in 60.7% of commuter cases: approximately 40% tested positive, always and only for ethanol (median Blood Alcohol Concentration, BAC, of about 1.03 g/L). Values above the legal limit were observed in 23.5% of the toxicological samples analyzed from commuter accidents. Our findings contribute to bridging the gap in knowledge in the area of RTCs and commuting and emphasize the importance of carrying out toxicological investigations, with possible repercussions on both insurance issues and public health strategies, which are relevant for analyzing the phenomenon structurally.