The opioid and synthetic drug crisis remains a serious public health emergency that is eroding the quality of life for far too many americans, and unfortunately, the residents of alabama continue to…

This $309,524 Formula Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (CFDA 16.742 - Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant Program) will enable the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) to procure critical equipment and instrumentation to enhance the capacity and efficiency of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences (ADFS) in addressing the opioid crisis. Specifically, the funding will be used to: 1) Add 5 autopsy tables to the ADFS Montgomery State Medical Examiner morgue to increase the efficiency of autopsy operations; 2) Purchase 6 analytical balances for the ADFS Drug Chemistry section to expand the capacity for weighing pre-ingestion evidence including opioids; 3) Acquire toxicology instrumentation, equipment, and consumables to enable more rapid and comprehensive testing of opioid compounds; and 4) Procure 2 Intox DMT dual sensor breath alcohol testing instruments and 10 simulators to enhance statewide calibration services offered by the ADFS Implied Consent section. This award is intended to help ADFS more effectively and efficiently process the increasing volume of opioid and synthetic drug cases being referred from over 450 law enforcement agencies across Alabama.

The opioid and synthetic drug crisis remains a serious public health emergency that is eroding the quality of life for far too many americans, and unfortunately, the residents of alabama continue to be disproportionately affected. In 2022, alabama led the nation in the number of per capita prescriptions for opioids for the 11TH consecutive year with nearly 4 million prescriptions issued which is equivalent to 0.8 prescriptions for every man, woman, and child in alabama. This is nearly double the national average of 46.8 prescriptions per 100 people. Based on these alarming statistics, arguably no state has a greater need to address the opioid epidemic than alabama. As the sole provider of forensic testing services to over 450+ law enforcement agencies throughout alabama, the alabama department of forensic sciences (adfs) has also experienced a dramatic increase in the request for death investigation, drug chemistry, and toxicology services because of the opioid epidemic in this state. Specifically, the medical examiners offices in montgomery, mobile, and huntsville completed 2,813 post mortem examinations/autopsies in FY23, a ~10% increase compared to FY22. Of all post mortem examinations conducted over the course of FY23 in all three adfs state medical examiner morgue facilities, over 90% of all death cases required forensic toxicology analyses. The results of our GAP analysis highlighted the need for equipment, instrumentation, or consumables in four (4) targeted areas to address the prevalence of the increasing number of opioid and synthetic drug cases; first, the addition of five autopsy tables for the adfs montgomery state medical examiner morgue facility to increase the efficiency of autopsy operations, second, the purchase of six analytical balances for the adfs drug chemistry section to expand the capacity for weighing pre-ingestion evidence to include opioids, third, the procurement of toxicology-related instrumentation, equipment, and consumables to efficiently test a greater number of opioid compounds in a timely manner; and fourth, the purchase of two intox DMT dual sensor breath alcohol testing instruments and 10 simulators to enhance statewide calibration services offered by the adfs implied consent section. To summarize the soundness of alabamas project design and implementation approach, funding received through this proposal will be utilized to procure equipment that will cumulatively allow for the rapid, cost effective, and timely analysis of opioid and other synthetic drug cases received by adfs from throughout alabama.