Best Practices for Specimen Collection and Preservation for Forensic Toxicology

This document delineates guidelines for the collection of forensic toxicology specimens, their amounts, preservatives, and storage conditions. This guideline applies to specimens collected for laboratories performing forensic toxicological analysis in the following sub-disciplines: postmortem toxicology, human performance toxicology (e.g., drug-facilitated crimes and driving-under-the-influence of alcohol or drugs) and other forensic testing (e.g., court-ordered toxicology, general forensic toxicology). It is not intended for the area of breath alcohol toxicology.