NFLIS Benzodiazepine Reports Counted Seized Drug Identifications Rather Than Users

A forensic laboratory report is a different unit from a person, exposure or death.

What the supplied paper reports

An NFLIS-Drug analysis estimated benzodiazepine identifications submitted to forensic laboratories during 2015–2018. It described national and regional trends for selected prescription and emerging compounds using laboratory reports and population-based report rates.

Study limits

Law-enforcement activity, submissions, laboratory scope and reporting practices affect the counts. One person or case can involve multiple identifications, and the dataset is not a population drug-use survey.

Forensic implications

Define the unit before interpreting a rise or regional difference. A report rate cannot establish how many people consumed a substance or their impairment. The data can describe the analyzed drug supply while individual exposure and causation require biological and case-specific evidence.

Source and related reading

Source: PMC7905184, supplied full-text paper. Findings are paraphrased; forensic implications are an interpretation.

Related: A Benzodiazepine-Positive Result After Emergency Sedation May Reflect Treatment Rather Than the Initial Overdose.