TOXICOLOGY
Toxicology Laboratory Services
Toxicology Laboratory Specialists
A toxicology test checks blood, urine, or saliva for the presence of drugs or chemicals. These include prescription medicines, non prescription medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, alcohol, and illegal drugs. Testing is often done in urine or saliva, but blood, hair and other matrices are used as well. Toxicology tests (screens) are done to find the cause of life-threatening symptoms, determine drug use in the workplace, drug use with athletes and student-athletes (both professional and amateur), and other social settings.
According to Salt Lake County (Utah) Division of Substance Abuse, Alcohol and drugs are associated with 45% of rapes, 51% of assaults, 70% of teen suicides, 50% of traffic fatalities, 52% of murders, 68% of manslaughter charges, 55% of burglaries, 51% of thefts, and 80% of child abuse. Statistics are equally daunting through every state in the country.
Chronic pain affects approximately 86 million people in the United States and is #1 reason people seek medical care; pain relievers are the #1 new illicit drug in the US, while 60% of people who use pain relievers for nonmedical reasons obtain the drug from a friend or relative, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration STRIDE database (2011), drawn from results of substance evidence, the five most frequently reported drugs (in order from greatest number): cocaine, cannabis/THC, methamphetamine, heroin and oxycodone.
Rates vary by demographics, age, sex, etc. worldwide, but it is an established fact that about 1 in 100 deaths by adults is attributed to illicit drug use.
Now, forward-looking laboratories are adopting the Luxon-MS/MS screening methods for for the detection of drugs in urine, oral fluids, hair and blood. Luxon further increases throughput, as well as drives down costs on a sample-to-sample basis.
Toxicology Laboratory Experience
Overbrook, for nearly two decades, has provided service contract maintenance, relocation services, method consulting and Luxon technology to state and federally licensed alcohol and drugs-of-abuse testing lab serving healthcare providers, large clinics, hospitals and treatment programs throughout the United States.
