Drug testing gone mad

Last week an extremely interesting article ran in the American newspaper USA Today. It dealt with the use of unreliable drug-test kits as the basis to arrest innocent people on illegal drug charges.

The story starts with the tale of a Canadian couple who were arrested for exporting illegal drugs because police at the US border found material in their carry-on bag that tested positive for hashish. In fact they didn’t have drugs -” they had chocolate.

The couple were caught up in what civil libertarians say is a growing problem: the use of inexpensive test kits being utilised by American police departments.

These kits test suspicious materials, and a positive result can lead to an arrest and court date, pending more sophisticated tests done after the sample is sent to a lab. Basically the kits are very simple reagent tests that attempt to identify illicit substances by reacting with what is put into a plastic pouch.

If the liquid turns a certain colour, it is a considered a positive result.

Unfortunately, as the Canadian couple found, a number of legal products and plants can test positive -” including chocolate for hashish; rosemary for cannabis; deodorant for cocaine; and natural soaps for GHB.

We now live in a world where drug testing is becoming more and more popular. We have roadside saliva drug testing, workplace drug testing and of course, the increasing use of drug detection (or sniffer) dogs. Last week one of the breakfast television programs introduced a new Australian company that offers parents a sniffer dog for hire to test whether their child has brought illegal drugs into their home! Has the world gone completely insane?

Now I want to make it clear that I believe there is a place for certain types of drug testing -” roadside testing, for example, is a very important preventive strategy and can really help to make our roads safer. However, many of the tests currently available are not always reliable and false positives can lead to devastating consequences for those involved. This is happening while drug testing companies across the world are making millions promoting the message to as many people as possible that this is the way to go. Surely there has to be a better way.

Remember: If you do not want any negative consequences, do not use the drug and no matter how many times you have used a substance – never be blase!