Medicinal Poisons

There is great variation in the drugs prescribed, used and most importantly available to the public in different countries. In many countries there are strict controls on the supply of drugs but many potentially lethal compounds are still available to the public without prescription in the shops. Where drugs are easily available they are by far the most common method of suicide and suicidal gestures. The subject has expanded so greatly that it properly belongs in the field of clinical toxicology rather than legal medicine [1].