Author/Editor		Zorec-Karlovšek, M; Koželj, G; Kuštrin-Samba, A; Pezdir, T
Title		Drugs and driving in Slovenia - epidemiological studies
Type		članek
Source		In: Proceedings of the 11th international meeting on forensic medicine Alpe-Adria-Pannonia; 2002 May 3-5; Visegrad, Hungary. Visegrad: ,
Publication year		2002
Volume		str. 36-40
Language		eng
Abstract		The Institute for Forensic Medicine in Ljubljana performs toxicological analyses of blood and urine samples taken from road users apprehended due to suspicion of alcohol or drug use. Retrospective studies of requests for toxicological analysis produce an insight into the growing problem of driving under the influence of psychotropic substances in Slovenia. The first studies in the early 1980s analysed occurrences of legal drug use in cases where alcoholometric examinations were requested and later supplemented them with toxicological investigations of blood samples and by measuring levels of benzodiazepines in the blood. Since 1991 occurrences of illegal drug use - especially cannabis, heroin and methadone - and requests for toxicological analysis have become more frequent. In addition, the Institute's toxicology laboratory has performed a survey of drug use in traffic accident casualties in the year 2001. In traffic accidents and accidents with a fatal outcome, benzodiazepines, opioids and cannabinoids feature heavily, alongside the number one drug, ethanol.
Descriptors		FORENSIC MEDICINE AUTOMOBILE DRIVER EXAMINATION ALCOHOL DRINKING SUBSTANCE ABUSE DETECTION PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS