The Effect of Over-the-Counter Drugs on Blood Spatter and Blood Deposit

Bloodstain Pattern Analysis and Toxicology are important aspects of Forensic Science in determining what occurred at a crime scene. There are limited studies done on the effects of drugs on blood spatter found at crime scenes. Since drugs can have different effects on the body, the blood would be affected by these drugs. Visine and Aspirin were chosen to be incorporated into sheep’s blood due to their common use in the general population. Contaminated blood was deposited onto several common surfaces alongside controls. The results were compared to the control and the secondary control, DI water added to blood, using a two-sample t-test. Many of the results came back as significant including the secondary control compared to the control group. Therefore the significance of the results cannot be linked directly back to the substances themselves, but to the water in addition to the substance added. Future studies could be done with higher concentrations of drugs, with the metabolites of drugs, and with different drugs, licit and illicit.