Publications

In the past decade, between 7 000 and 9 000 drug-related deaths (DRDs) have been reported in Europe every year (EMCDDA, 2018). Most are classified as such on the basis of toxicological investigations (more than 85 % of overdose deaths in the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Statistical Bulletin are reported with ‘known toxicology’). However, only fragmentary information is given concerning the limitations of the data, such as regional or national differences in the analytical capacity of forensic toxicology laboratories. The objective of this report is to provide an updated analysis of the post-mortem toxicology practices of DRD cases in Europe and to discuss the effect of these practices on the monitoring of DRDs. There were two components to this project: a scoping study and a mapping survey.