Overview

A comprehensive text on the medico-legal aspects of alcohol and drug intoxication, written by Canada's foremost forensic pharmacologist. This enlarged and up-dated Fourth Edition provides a comprehensive and scholarly treatise on the medical and legal aspects of alcohol and drug intoxication. A detailed account of hazardous drugs and drug interactions is provided in the enlarged chapter on drug intoxication. This eminently readable book can be enjoyed by anyone, and is a must for every library. This up-to-date handbook, with 87 illustrations, 143 tables, and 1202 references, is a complete reference source for physicians, lawyers, professors of forensic sciences, expert witnesses, law enforcement officers, and anyone concerned with the medico-legal aspects of alcohol and drug intoxication. It is essential reading for criminologists, social workers, and traffic safety professionals. It deals with the detection and the effect of alcohol and drugs on intent, ability, and behavior. Its encyclopedic thoroughness explores the complexities of the relevant basic sciences in depth, but reduces them to easy understanding, and relates them to the practical issues of the real world. The author reviews the history of alcohol and toxic drugs, and describes what happens to them when they enter the body, and how they act on it. The intricacies, strengths, and pitfalls of blood and breath tests are examined. The historical development of breath test instruments is traced, and the operational procedures of equipment in common use are described. Formula-based methods for estimation of blood alcohol concentrations after drinking, that range from rules-of-thumb to computer-generated AlcoTrace simulations, are presented in sufficient detail to enable reader use. Factors that affect road safety are identified, and are related to the role played by a motor vehicle operator. A review of epidemiological studies on the relationship between drinking and driving that provide the historical basis for countermeasures, is presented. The use of blood alcohol measurements and clinical sobriety tests for the detection and recognition of skill impairment are discussed in depth. Pathological disorders resulting from alcohol and drug abuse are identified and outlined.

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9781493583492

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Russell Rockerbie, PhD (Purdue) launched his forensic career when playing a prominent role in the introduction of breath tests for law enforcement in Canada in the 1950's. He has testified as an expert witness for over 45 years at inquiries and at criminal, civil, and military tribunals, in the USA, Canada, and Europe. He is a retired overseas member of the Association of Forensic Physicians of Great Britain. After post-doctoral training in pathology at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, his career path moved to the Pathology Department of the Regina Grey Nuns Hospital where he was engaged in teaching, research, and clinical investigations. He subsequently taught clinical pathology at Simon Fraser University, and held Medical Research Council grants at the Vancouver General Hospital. Prior to establishing a private practice, he was a Director of Research in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General in British Columbia. He has lectured widely on the medico-legal aspects of alcohol and drug intoxication, and has authored of over thirty-five scientific publications.

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