Unjust Equations: False Positives In Drug Testing
Posted on Thursday, 12 of March , 2009 at 10:16 am
By June Maxam
Do you know how easy it is to fail a drug test, even if you’ve never taken drugs, whether you’re an inmate where you are told over and over that inmates have no rights, or in the workplace where you could be the next person denied employment due to a false positive drug test?
What’s a false positive? It is a test result that is returned when a substance tests positive for another compound. It is in essence a case of mistaken identity.
Did you know that if take Ibuprofen, you could test positive for marijuana? Nyquil Nighttime Cold Medicine will test positive for methadone up to two days. Naproxen sodium, aka Aleve will also give a false positive for THC or marijuana as will B2 vitamins, also known as riboflavin.
If you take the antibiotics Amoxicillin or ampicillin, they can produce a false positive for cocaine.
Over-the-counter allergy preparations, sleep-aids and anti-nausea medications that contain promethazine, Phenergan®, Promethagan® such as Claritin D will test positive for THC.
Many asthma medications register as ecstasy or amphetamines. Even in the absence of these pharmaceuticals, some medical conditions can register a false positive. Kidney infection, liver disease, and diabetes can all lead to false positives for cocaine, ecstasy, opiates, or amphetamines.
But the prisons and drug testing labs don’t like to talk about that.
See Part I of this NCG Investigative Report at http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/03/11/inmate_abuse/ and http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/03/11/false_positives/ )
See Part II of this NCG Investigative Report at
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/03/11/inmates_victimized/
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/03/11/ny_inmates/ 3-12-09
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Category: Business, Consumers, Courts, Drugs, Government, Health, Labor, Nationwide, New York State, Police, Technology
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