Review presented on the occasion of the significant life jubilee of Prof. J. Tesař, MD, DrSc., 16.12.2002 in the Medical House in Prague deals with the development and application of analytical technologies in toxicological practice in the last fifty years, with demands on decreasing the size of biological samples, detection limits achievable, with possibilities of interpretation deduced from analyses of alternative matrices. The paper also informs about scientific guidelines applied in Europe with attention focused on the reliable detection of illicit drugs in the workplace or drugs and driving. Based on more advanced analytical strategy, more complete and more precise information can be achieved and consequently more perfect interpretation based on objective evidence can be gained and it can comply to „Evidence Based Forensic Toxicology“.

        Key words: development in toxicological analyses - chromatography - immunochemistry - mass spectrometry - alternative matrices - objective evidence - range of interpretation