In analytical chemistry for ETOH and Drugs of Abuse determination, it is very true that the matrix is all around us but truly is ignored

In analytical chemistry for ETOH and Drugs of Abuse determination, it is very true that the matrix is all around us but truly is ignored

Keanu Reeves in the movie The Matrix noted that the matrix is all around us, you just haven’t chosen to see it. He had no idea that his statement would hold true in analytical testing for ETOH and drugs of abuse testing in DUI prosecution as well. The matrix is the substrate form which we…

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Defending DUI Drug Cases: Part 3 from PA DUI attorney Justin J. McShane

Defending DUI Drug Cases: Part 3 from PA DUI attorney Justin J. McShane

Pennsylvania DUI attorney Justin J. McShane, Esq. presents his lecture "Defending DUI Drug Cases" in Hartford, CT in December 2009. In Part 3: "Pharmacology," expert DUI Attorney McShane explains the differences, both in testing procedure and impairment determination, between DUI Alcohol and DUI Drug cases. The McShane Firm is the premier DUI/DWI law firm in…

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If he was an analytical chemist or a DUI defense attorney he would say “Show me the separation!!”

If he was an analytical chemist or a DUI defense attorney he would say “Show me the separation!!”

Who can forget Cuba Gooding Junior in the movie Jerry McGuire shouting “SHOW ME THE MONEY!”??? If he was an analytical chemist or a DUI defense attorney facing a purported result from a Headspace Gas Chromatograph with a Flame Ionization Detector, he would yell: “SHOW ME THE SEPARATION!!!!!!” Well, that is one of the things that a…

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The Carryover Effect:  Lack of Blanks between tests leads to false positive or inflated BAC results

The Carryover Effect: Lack of Blanks between tests leads to false positive or inflated BAC results

Imagine. You go into your doctor’s office for a routine physical. As part of that routine physical, the doctor takes your blood. You come back two weeks later where the doctor delivers the single worst sentence you have ever heard in your life: “I’m sorry but you have cancer.” Then comes ever worse news from…

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Defending DUI Drug Cases: Part 2 from PA DUI attorney Justin J. McShane

Defending DUI Drug Cases: Part 2 from PA DUI attorney Justin J. McShane

Pennsylvania DUI attorney Justin J. McShane, Esq. presents his lecture "Defending DUI Drug Cases" in Hartford, CT in December 2009. In Part 2: "Drug Identification and Quantification," expert DUI Attorney McShane details the difference between impaired and metabolite states, and explains why "the numbers by themselves are meaningless or junk." The McShane Firm is the…

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A wakeup call:  Independence in Crime Labs is not enough

A wakeup call: Independence in Crime Labs is not enough

While independence is necessary for any laboratory to insure against bias, it is just a start. Without meaningful double blind unannounced proficiency-based testing of every technician conducted by yet and another independent certified set of laboratory auditors, then it means nothing. We also need the technicians to be true credentialed scientists having graduated from brick…

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