Almost a year ago, some friends were killed in a plane crash. The NTSB hasn’t completed their investigation, but I noticed the following autopsy information has been added to their report on the accident.
*Toxicological testing was conducted on the pilot by the FAA Toxicology Accident Research Laboratory, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He tested positive for the following:
0.0064 (ug/ml, ug/g) Tetrahydrocannabinol (Marihuana) detected in Lung
0.0016 (ug/ml, ug/g) Tetrahydrocannabinol Carboxylic Acid (Marihuana) detected in Blood
Tetrahydrocannabinol Carboxylic Acid (Marihuana) detected in Lung
0.0238 (ug/ml, ug/g) Tetrahydrocannabinol Carboxylic Acid (Marihuana) detected in Urine
*
I have no idea what those amounts (ratios?) represent. Is it the leftover traces of a party from a week ago? Or was he high when he took off?
Any information from the medical SDMB-ers is welcome. (somehow, “dopers” seemd like a poor choice of words here)
Until someone more knowledgeable then me comes along, let me answer what I can.
Tetrahydrocannabinol Carboxylic Acid is the principle metabolite of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in Marijuana. This metabolite is inactive, so it doesn’t does have any effects in the body, and can be detected up to 30 days after administration of THC in a heavy smoker, or maybe up to a week in a occasional smoker.
The typical dose of THC that is consumed smoking a “normal joint” is between 1mg and 4mg, however, I don’t know what the volume of distribution in the lung is, so can’t tell you what type of dose 0.0064 mcg/mL is equivalent to… However, THC is rapidly metabolized in the liver, so there won’t normally be much, if any, THC still present after say 24 hours after smoking…
So, was he high? I don’t know… But, I’m willing to bet he smoked sometime within the last 24 to 48 hours.
I believe the u is actually for micro grams which is 10^-6 not milli which is 10^-3.
And, those results are like .0064 which is 6.4 nano grams which is really small.
But, the urine amount is .0238 which is 23.8 nanograms. It takes 50 nanograms of THC to pop on a drug test.
However, I don’t know how to factor in these results to determine how long it had been that he had smoked before crashing. Either way, he had not smoked immediately before take-off so assuming no other drugs he was probably sober while flying.
I don’t know how much that effects the time from which he last smoked to when they did the autopsy.
IANAD (I Am Not A Doctor)(I Am Not A Druggie)Not sure what “real” values should be. Huge concentration in urine vs. blood suggests they consumed a lot recently, but most of it was working its way out of their system? Last night’s party? Low concentration in the lung suggests same, also that they were not flying one-handed due to current consumption. Just an (un-?)educated guess.
Yes, u is computer-type for “mu”, the greek symbol for “micro” as in micrograms or 10^-6