Driving under the influence of an intoxicant in Ireland.

The number of specimens analysed by the MBRS has been increasing for both alcohol and drugs. Blood and urine specimens are analysed for the concentration of alcohol using Headspace Gas Chromatography. Specimens testing positive were forwarded to the State Laboratory for confirmatory analysis by either GC/MS or LC/MS. In 2000, 93 per cent of blood specimens, 91 per cent of urine specimens and 82 per cent of breath specimens were over the limit. In the same year, 57 per cent of blood specimens, 66 per cent of urine specimens and 33 per cent of breath specimens were over twice the limit. Of the 78 specimens tested for the presence of a drug or drugs, 37 were blood specimens and 41 urine specimens. Of these, 34 blood specimens and 37 urine specimens were found to be positive, while seven specimens were negative for the drug or drug classes tested (three blood and four urine specimens). There were 23 specimens found positive for one drug class and 48 for more than one drug.The number of requests for the presence of drugs in RTA blood and urine specimens is increasing annually and the high percentage of positives found in the specimens tested indicates the need for such analyses. The results showed excellent agreement for drug detection in the blood specimens analysed by the different methods, except for the cannabinoids. The number of specimens in this study is small and care must be exercised in interpreting the results.