Citation

Kauert G. Blutalkohol 2007; 44(2): 18-21.

Affiliation

Institut fur Forensische Toxikologie, Zentrum der Rechtsmedizin, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat, 60596 Frankfurt am Main

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, International Committee on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety and Bund gegen Alkohol und Drogen im Straßenverkehr, Publisher Steintor Verlag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There are a lot of psychotropic medical drugs, which had been delivered from the pharmaceutical companies onto the market in the 1950s and 60s and which revolutionized the therapy of mental disorders. However, soon after there were discovered strong adverse effects of some drugs, among others, the impairments of driving ability, which could decrease the traffic safety. The DGVM recognized this problem at the end of the 1950s and layed the foundation for the scientific research on drugs and driving. The tremendous advances in analytical toxicology supported the research in traffic medicine. Today it is possible to quantify nearly all psychotropic medical and illicit drugs, respectively in body fluids and tissues with high sensitifity and specifity. This facilitated the scientific investigations of the correlation between drug effect and concentration in e.g. blood. Legal thresholds for some drugs may be now subject of discussions.

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