Colorado § 30-10-624 - Required toxicology screening for a suicide, overdose death, or accidental death - annual report - working group.

§ 30-10-624. Required toxicology screening for a suicide, overdose death, or accidental death - annual report - working group.

(1) (a) The association representing coroners shall establish a working group to study methods to test for all scheduled drugs and the presence and quantity of THC, including and identifying how long ago the THC was consumed, if the presence of THC was in conjunction with alcohol and scheduled drugs, and its metabolite in each case of a non-natural death, excluding homicide, of a person under twenty-five years of age. The working group shall consult with an epidemiologist, a medical toxicologist, an addiction specialist, and a medical examiner or forensic pathologist and may consult with the department of public health and environment. The methodology shall include means to identify prescription drugs, and other federally scheduled substances that have a substantial potential for overdose and addiction, by using evidence-based practices. These recommendations shall be completed by July 1, 2022; except that the methodology to identify prescription drugs, and other federally scheduled substances that have a substantial potential for overdose and addiction, by using evidence-based practices shall be completed by November 1, 2022, and reported to the house of representatives health and insurance committee and the senate health and human services committee, or their successor committees.

(b) Beginning January 1, 2022, the coroner shall complete a full toxicology screen, including testing for the presence of THC, alcohol, and scheduled drugs, in each case of a non-natural death, excluding homicide, of a Colorado resident under twenty-five years of age. Upon request of a county, the department of public health and environment shall reimburse a coroner for the costs associated with completing a toxicology screen. In addition, at the request of a county, the department of public health and environment or the local health department may provide training and supplies for toxicology draws.

(c) The coroner shall share the information collected pursuant to subsection (1)(a) of this section with the department of public health and environment for inclusion into the violent death reporting system. However, the information collected by the coroner and shared with the department is not a public record under the "Colorado Open Records Act"; except that the information shall be made available to a parent or a duly appointed legal representative of the deceased upon request. The department shall make the de-identified aggregate of the information provided pursuant to this subsection (1)(c) available for research purposes.

(d) In the event of a death in a hospital, if clinically indicated, the hospital-treating clinician shall order the toxicology screen as described in subsection (1)(a) of this section and document the results of the toxicology screen to the health information exchange in the medical record.

(2) The department of public health and environment shall produce an annual report of the information reported in subsections (1)(b) and (1)(c) of this section beginning January 2, 2023, and annually each year thereafter. The report can be produced in conjunction with the report required pursuant to section 25-3-126.

Source: L. 2021: Entire section added, (HB 21-1317), ch. 313, p. 1914, § 4, effective June 24.