Communication with the prosecuting attorney will be established in these situations to determine what questions need to be answered and whether qualitative or quantitative drug analysis can best provide this information. Agencies who have contracted for 11550 Health and Safety toxicology will receive sample collection kits that are addressed to be returned directly to the Toxicology Laboratory. The US Postal Service approved kits are available to protect both the sample integrity and personnel that transport and handle the evidence. Instructions concerning the collection of the sample are included in the kit. The specific type of sample container may change as new developments in sample preservation and analyses are implemented.
Blood is the preferred sample.
With the exception of alcohol, the present pharmacological state of an individual cannot be assessed by the finding of a drug in a urine sample. If in doubt, submit both blood and urine samples. Considerations must be made to collect another sample if an alcohol analysis is requested on the same sample and the initial collection provides less than 8 milliliters. The minimum requirement for alcohol determinations is 3 milliliters. In certain instances when information points to a particular drug or drug class and the request is limited to identification only, the amount of sample needed to perform the analysis may be less than the minimum of 5 milliliters.