NIST Postmortem Toxicology Testing and Death Reporting (Certificates) Workshop #2

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in support of the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy published by Office of National Drug Control Policy on May 4, 2026, is hosting a second in-person workshop to address the challenges of potentially incomplete drug toxicity death data being reported to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) from medical examiners and coroners in the United States.

NIST is coordinating the development of resources to support more detailed, timely, and consistent reporting of drug toxicity deaths by medical examiners and coroners in the United States. These targeted resources include voluntary consensus standards, best practices, scientific frameworks, professional association guidance and additional recommendations. This NIST in-person workshop will bring together medical examiners, coroners, toxicologists, professional association leadership, standards owners, ONDCP representatives, and CDC representatives to receive updates from virtual working groups exploring the following three areas of the medicolegal death investigation and reporting process for drug toxicity deaths: 

• Medical examiner/coroner case selection and investigation (Working Group 1)
• Postmortem toxicology analytical scope and reporting (Working Group 2)
• Death certificate guidance and federal data (Working Group 3)

This second workshop builds off the initial workshop executed in July 20-21, 2026, that identified the scope of the challenges in these areas. The overarching goal of this effort is to have more robust and standardized toxicology data included in death reporting activities being reported to the CDC for drug toxicity deaths which improves both resource allocation and policy implications in the U.S.