[Drug-facilitated crime: a public health problem?]

Drug-facilitated crime (DFC) is well known to the public, yet general practitioners and other physicians are unfamiliar with this issue, largely because toxicology is not part of the medical curriculum. This often leads to diagnostic errors. The frequency of DFC is underestimated, often owing to late examination and analytical problems. On 24 December 2002 the French authorities issued a circular defining DFC as "the administration of a psychoactive drug without the victim's knowledge, as a means of aggression"; and listing places where victims can be managed On 19 July 2005, the French Agency for Health Product Safety (Afssaps) sent a letter to all professionals potentially concerned by this issue, offering guidelines for both medical personnel and laboratory staff conducting toxicological investigations. One difficulty in drug identification is that the doses administered are often low. Toxicology laboratories need sophisticated equipment and expertise to ensure that the perpetrator is prosecuted or, alternatively, to rule out DFC. More information is needed, not only for the public but also for physicians and toxicologists. Benzodiazepines and related compounds are identified in about 75% of DFC cases.