“All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy.” This statement, attributed to 16th-century Swiss physician Paracelsus, is considered one of the basic tenets of modern toxicology, even to this day.1 Paracelsus meant that a substance can produce the harmful effect associated with …

The opioid crisis has become extremely deadly. In the United States, the misuse of pharmaceutical opioids, coupled with an increase in heroin and fentanyl use has resulted in the death rate tripling from 16,849 to 52,404 annually from 1999 to 2015.1 Novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) are synthetically derived compounds developed to mimic the effects of …

When the Vermont Forensics Laboratory (VFL) moved into their new lab, their first goal was to get their blood alcohol system nationally accredited. When a sample tests positive for drugs in a forensics lab, those test results may be needed at court when the case goes to trial. And if the lab performing those tests …

Picture this: you’re in the field, donned in full hazmat gear, investigating a recently discovered methamphetamine lab – or similar chemically unsafe site. Wearing thick gloves and a mask over your face, you attempt to sample the illicit drug using a classic syringe and then test it in your portable GC/MS. It’s a performance art …