# Drug combo mimicking cocaine in autopsy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577 "2011-03-13T20:22:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anchuldigs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anchuldigs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anchuldigs)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577/1 "2011-03-13T20:22:50Z")
Is there be a combination of legal drugs that would be taken to treat a legitimate illness that would show up as cocaine in an autopsy? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577/2 "2011-03-13T20:52:25Z")
I don’t know how this would work in an autopsy, but if you’re going for urine and blood tests, those and the like often look for metabolites, not the actual substance. Cocaine becomes primarily [Benzoylecgonine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzoylecgonine), along with several others. The article mentions a drug Esterom (pain killer), but I have no idea whether an experienced examiner would be able to distinguish the two. It would seem that the lack of the other metabolites is a sign that it’s not cocaine, but some tests may only look for one or a few metabolites. ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577/3 "2011-03-14T01:42:38Z")
Forensic toxicology uses gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) which separates substances by mass and by electrical charge. The people who run these run the unknown sample against standards containing known quantities of drug metabolites. There is pretty much no way of inadvertently fooling one of these systems, so no. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577/4 "2011-03-14T05:32:28Z")
Are you thinking of something like the “cocaine mummies,” or a medical examiner investigating a recent death? ---
**Author:** ![Anchuldigs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anchuldigs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anchuldigs)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577/5 "2011-03-14T18:22:33Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > Are you thinking of something like the “cocaine mummies,” or a medical examiner investigating a recent death? I’m thinking medical examiner. Fellow dies in car crash. ME finds cocaine in his system. Family claims it was combo of medications. Any chance the family is right? ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577/6 "2011-03-14T19:16:18Z")
No. See my above post. The only way this would work is if one of the prescription drugs metabolized to one of the same things that cocaine is metabolized to. IANA pharmacist, but I don’t think there are any prescription drugs for which this is true. ---
**Author:** ![Anchuldigs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anchuldigs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anchuldigs)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-combo-mimicking-cocaine-in-autopsy/574577/7 "2011-03-15T14:34:12Z")
> [@Nunavut\_Boy](#): > > Forensic toxicology uses gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) which separates substances by mass and by electrical charge. The people who run these run the unknown sample against standards containing known quantities of drug metabolites. There is pretty much no way of inadvertently fooling one of these systems, so no. So the ME would put a blood sample in a GC/MS machine and it would separate the different substances and chemicals in the blood? Cool beans