Background: After unprecedented demand for ethanol in the pandemic, profiteers used methanol for making illegal alcoholic drink.

Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study investigated the effects of methanol poisoning on 400 patients who referred to hospitals affiliated with Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences from March 20 to September 20, 2020.

Results: Ninety-eight-point five percent of patients had consumed alcohol for social reasons and only 0.3% had used it as a measure to avoid COVID-19. Eighty-seven percent of the patients used homemade alcohol bought from peddlers. The most common clinical symptom was gastrointestinal disorders (64.8%) and the most common complications were vision problems (12.3%). Ten-point-six percent (42 patients) of the patients died. The most important factors affecting mortality risk were dyspnea, neuropathic problems, abnormal radiological findings, dialysis, abnormal blood pressure, vision problems and dizziness.

Conclusions: Informing the public about the risks of using homemade alcoholic beverages is essential if the associated disability and mortality has to be avoided.

A significant increase in the number of suicides with the use of helium has been observed in recent years. Deaths with its use are quick and are not accompanied by a feeling of breathlessness. This paper presents the results of a post-mortem examination of a woman who committed suicide by inhaling helium. Conventional postmortem examination did not reveal any post-traumatic changes, while a computed tomography (CT) scans showed the presence of a large amount of gas in the veins and arteries of the whole body and in the heart chambers. In the assessment of postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) images, changes resulting from putrefaction were also taken into account. The results of the diagnostics carried out confirm the results of previous reports, which indicated that inhalation of large amounts of helium leads to death not only (as previously thought) in the oxygen displacement mechanism, but also through the formation of gas embolisms.

The history of humanity is closely related to the use of various poisons, different in each epoch. They served different purposes for centuries. In addition to being a remedy for various ailments and diseases, they also helped to bear the hard life of a person thanks to the possibility of causing mental elation, making it more bearable. They were also used to kill other people, most often for very low motives. The number of poisons existing in particular stages of civilization has been systematically increasing, reaching the number of 100,000 – 500,000 toxicologically active compounds in modern times, with the generally estimated number of known chemical compounds at the level of about 240 million.

The research work of thinkers and people of progress is a counterbalance to the evil deeds of poisoners in antiquity and the Middle Ages. These works appeared in the late Middle Ages and are continued in various forms until the present day. As a result of these works, modern toxicological forensic expertise has been developed. However, before it appeared in its modern shape, it had to go through a very difficult development path, which lasted continuously for several centuries.

Modern toxicological expertise, based on a highly specialized instrumental methodology, operating with high methodological standards, is the achievement of many generations. These standards have now become a requirement for expert works of our times, and failure to comply with them is treated as a malpractice.

This work is a review of the types of poisons and reports in terms of the development and application of toxicological forensic expertise for the purposes of the judiciary.

Aim of the study: The paper presents the basic principles of judicial review in cases of shooting people or animals on hunting with rifled long weapons, including deaths with a fatal outcome.

Material and methods: Such opinions are issued on the basis of the collected evidence and the knowledge of an expert in the field of weapons and ammunition, ballistics as well as in the field of anatomopathological medicine.

Results: This type of comprehensive analysis allows for the issuance of a detailed and at the same time precise opinion as a special means of evidence, having the most important importance in the course of the entire trial. Therefore, it is extremely important to properly secure the evidence in the form of a bullet or its fragments and to confront these elements with the assessment of the gunshot wound, and above all the shape and size of the gunshot canal and the momentary gunshot cavity. These types of proceedings are quite complicated, as they require a broad spectrum of knowledge from an expert, therefore, in order to solve the complicated subject matter of the opinion, it is often necessary to issue an opinion even by several experts.

Conclusions: Forensic opinions in cases related to gunshots, including fatal ones, require an expert to have interdisciplinary specialist knowledge. All analyzes in this regard should be based on ballistic expertise in the aspect of gunshot wound assessment. The combination of these two elements determines the issuance of an objective and unquestionable interpretation.