Karch's Drug Abuse Handbook

Karch’s Drug Abuse Handbook, Third Edition remains the quintessential compendium addressing the pharmacological, medical, and legal aspects of drugs and informing the forensic community of the latest scientific advances and emergent practices.

For this edition, Dr. Karch has brought on clinical and forensic toxicology expert Dr. Bruce Goldberger, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology and president of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology, to serve as co-editor. In addition, world-renowned scientists and medical professionals have contributed their work and expertise in tackling the latest developments in drug testing, drug-related medical emergencies, and the drug toxicology.

Topics addressed include genetic testing in drug death investigation, pathology, toxicogenetics, alcohol, post-mortem toxicology, new psychoactive substances, the latest legal issues and challenges as well as drugs and drug testing in sports, and the ethical, legal, and practical issues involved. Vivid pictures and diagrams throughout illustrate the pathological effects of drugs and the chemical make-up and breakdown of abused drugs.

With unparalleled detail, the latest research and the highest level of authoritative medical scientific information, The Drug Abuse Handbook, Third Edition remains the definitive resource for drug related issues.

Dr. Steven B. Karch received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He attended graduate school in anatomy and cell biology at Stanford University. He received his medical degree from Tulane University in New Orleans and did postgraduate training in neuropathology at the Royal London Hospital and in cardiac pathology at Stanford University. Dr. Karch is a fellow of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of London and also a fellow of the Forensic Science Society. He served as a cardiac pathologist at the office of the San Francisco Medical Examiner, publishing a number of books and papers when he was serving there.

Dr. Karch is the author of nearly 100 papers and book chapters, most having to do with the effects of drug abuse on the heart. He has published 12 books and is at work on several more, including a novel on the medical legal fallout of Hurricane Katrina. He was a forensic science editor for Humana Press and continues as an associate editor for the Journal of Cardiovascular Toxicology.

Dr. Karch was elected as a Wellcome fellow to the Royal Society of Medicine in 1972 and has remained active in the organization ever since. He is best known in the United Kingdom as one of the Crown pathologists who helped build the case against Dr. Harold Shipman and testified against him at trial. He also played a key part in the defense of Dr. David Moor who had been wrongfully charged with the death of one of his patients.

Dr. Bruce Goldberger is a Professor and the Chief of the Division of Forensic Medicine in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Goldberger holds a joint Professor position in the Department of Psychiatry Division of Addiction Medicine. Dr. Goldberger is the Medical Director of UF Health Pathology Laboratories Clinical Toxicology Laboratory, the Director of the William R. Maples Center for Forensic Medicine, and the Program Director of the Florida Emergency Mortuary Operations Response System.

Dr. Goldberger is the Technical and Administrative Director of the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory at the University of Florida which provides toxicological services to Medical Examiner Offices and State and local law enforcement agencies throughout the State of Florida. Dr. Goldberger has been qualified as an expert witness more than 350 times in Federal, State, Military and Canadian courts of law. Dr. Goldberger is an opioid consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention and is a member of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Emerging Threats Committee.

Dr. Goldberger received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Zoology from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey and Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees in Forensic Toxicology from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Goldberger is a Fellow of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and the AACC Academy.

Dr. Goldberger is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology. Dr. Goldberger is a past-President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists, and the current President of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and the Forensic Specialties Accreditation Board. Dr. Goldberger has published numerous articles, reviews and chapters related to forensic toxicology and is co-editor of the Handbook of Workplace Drug Testing, 1st and 2nd editions, On-Site Drug Testing and Garriott's Medicolegal Aspects of Alcohol, 6th Edition.

In recognition of his student research achievements in forensic toxicology, Dr. Goldberger was presented with the first annual Sunshine Award from the Toxicology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in 1988. In addition, he was the 1994 recipient of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's Outstanding Scientific Achievements by a Young Investigator Award. In 2004, Dr. Goldberger was the recipient of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists' Mid-career Achievement Award for Excellence in Forensic Toxicology. Dr. Goldberger also received the Alexander O. Gettler Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field and profession of forensic toxicology from the Toxicology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in 2006, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Florida Association of Medical Examiners in 2008, and the Achievement in the Sciences Award from Drew University in 2012. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of alcohol- and drug-related traffic safety, Dr. Goldberger was the recipient of the National Safety Council's 2017 Robert F. Borkenstein Award.