A toxicology report involves the detection, isolation, identification, and determination of poisons and their effects on the human body. Forensic toxicology involves the use of toxicological methods for legal purposes. A forensic toxicology report typically includes identification of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, marijuana; detection of drugs and poisons in body fluids, tissues and organs; and measuring of alcohol in blood or urine samples. The toxicologist will prepare a report which interprets the results of the lab tests and present it to the courts.
A forensic toxicologist will typically use samples of body fluids, stomach contents, and organ parts along with a coroner's report containing information on symptoms and postmortem data tpo prepare a toxicology report. Specimens are generally divided into acidic and basic fractions for drug extraction from tissue or fluid. As an example, most of the barbiturate drugs are acid-soluble while most of the amphetamine drugs are base-soluble. Further screening tests and confirmation testing will be performed.
