ABSTRACT
There are many reasons for testing for drug use, including management and healthcare of individuals, to help control drug misuse by medical professionals including occupational health teams, general practitioners, drug clinics and, increasingly, employers. Such testing requires consideration, including a range of ethical, moral and statutory issues. Other testing may be required for numerous police investigations of drug-facilitated crime including drugs and driving, sexual assault (including ‘date-rape’, properly referred to as drug-facilitated sexual assault – DFSA), murders, suspicious deaths and poisonings. A coroner, when carrying out a death investigation, may need to know whether an individual has died through ingestion of a drug, or whether a drug played any other role in the death. Family courts may be interested in drug use by parties in care proceedings. Prior drug use by parties involved in insurance claims, e.g. motor vehicle crashes, may be relevant.
