Etizolam is a thienodiazepine that although licensed for clinical usage in 
Japan, India and South Korea is commonly abused and detected in post-mortem 
cases around the world. To date, there are limited data in the literature to 
allow for the interpretation of blood concentrations of etizolam in post-mortem 
cases. A liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method was used to 
quantitate etizolam concentrations in 28 post-mortem cases where etizolam was 
detected. The median concentration of etizolam in femoral blood was 8.5 ng/mL 
(range 1.0-172.0 ng/mL; n = 24); in antemortem plasma, the etizolam 
concentration range was 4-44 ng/mL (n = 4). The mean age of the individuals 
abusing etizolam was 38.5 ± 8.4 years (median 39 years), with the majority being 
male (86%). In all of the cases, multiple drugs were detected, with the most 
common being pregabalin (61%) followed by morphine/heroin (54%), diazepam (54%) 
and benzoylecgonine (21%), illustrating the increasing problem of poly-substance 
use in drug abusers. The cause of death in the cases in which etizolam was 
detected was multi-drug toxicity in 87.5% of the cases, with 12.5% unrelated to 
drug use (hangings and blunt-force trauma). These data will further help 
forensic practitioners with the interpretation of post-mortem etizolam 
concentrations.