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Tag: drug test

  • Von Miller Cheats NFL Drug Test

    Denver Broncos’ linebacker, Von Miller, is in hot water with NFL officials these days, and he’s not alone. According to ESPN, Miller enlisted the expertise of an NFL urine collector employed with the league’s drug-testing program. The effort was vastly unsuccessful. League sources indicate that this type of action will subsequently alter the how the NFL’s collection testing procedure is administered.

    The unnamed NFL urine collector was compensated to dilute Miller’s urine sample. The test still counted as a positive, which led to an initial four-week suspension for violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. Sources said Miller’s camp of representatives were initially making strides to appeal the suspension. However, once details confirmed that Miller did indeed conspire to corrupt the NFL’s drug testing program with the help of an insider, all further intent to appeal waned. Four meetings have been conducted in regards to the disciplinary actions taken toward Miller by the NFL. While the NFL could have actually slapped Miller with a full-year suspension for his attempt to use his status to influence the collector, it was later determined that the two equally conspired together. NFL officials settled on a six-game suspension once

    NFL officials conducted a meeting with Drug Free Sport, the company contracted to conduct the NFL’s drug testing program. According to inside sources, Drug Free Sport has already taken extensive action to implement fingerprinting procedures. This advance in technology would render it impossible for unauthentic urine samples to be submitted.

     

    Image via Wikimedia Commons 

  • U.S. Mom Gets Paid Over Poppy Seed Drug Test

    The idea that a person could cause a false positive on a drug test by eating a poppy seed bagel used to be the stuff of lore. Hardly anyone really believed it, but it got whispered around among people who were looking to pass drug tests as a condition of pre-employment or for probation. If you tested positive, tell them you ate a poppyseed bagel. They’ll have to retest you, and it’ll buy you time to go buy a “cleaner” to get you through the test.

    The supposed urban legend became fodder for a Seinfeld episode where Elaine tests falsely positive for opiate use due to eating a poppy seed bagel.

    Then came a 2003 episode of MythBusters, where Jamie and Adam consumed various poppyseed items and then took a drug test to see if they would indeed get a false positive. They did.

    According to the Forensic Science International journal, eating two poppy seed rolls caused positive test results for up to six hours in one test subject.

    And now Elizabeth Mort of Pennsylvania has settled a lawsuit against her hospital. The hospital reported her to child protective services because it appeared she was using heroin but had a newborn baby. A county child welfare case worker arrived at Mort’s home with a warrant in April of 2010 and took her three-day-old daughter, Isabella, from the home. The baby was placed in foster care. She was returned five days later when police found no other evidence to support the idea that Mort used any illegal drugs.

    Mort sued. She says the hospital never asked her what she had eaten, and in fact she had eaten a poppy seed bagel before going to the hospital. She also said that the hospital never told her of any results of a drug test. They simply called CPS.

    Now the hospital has settled Mort’s lawsuit for $143,500.

  • Florida’s Welfare Drug Test Program Costs the State Money

    The New York Times is reporting the recent Florida law requiring welfare applicants to submit to a drug test has actually cost the state $45,7870 since its inception in July, state documents are showing.

    The law was approved amidst the guise that it would save taxpayers on welfare costs and deter drug users from collecting from the government to support their habit.

    Instead, the numbers show the program cost the taxpayers money, deterred few drug users and had no effect on the total number of applications for welfare.

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, sued the state last year, and recently obtained the state documents. The suit claims that the law is unconstitutional, violating the Fourth Amendment right that protects against “unreasonable search”. Judge Mary S. Scriven of The Federal District Court issued a temporary injunction, freezing the law until a judgment can be reached.

    From July until October of last year, the four month period in which the testing took place before Judge Scriven’s order, only 2.6% of the states welfare applicants failed the drug test. The most common failure resulting in marijuana use.

    The Florida law requires applicants that pass the test be reimbursed the $30 testing fee, costing the state $118,140. This is more than what the state saved in benefits for the people that failed. $45,780 to be exact.

    Some may argue that the law itself deterred drug users from even applying, but documents from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) show that is not the case. No fewer cases were reported during the time when the law was enacted.

    Georgia instituted a similar law this week. The South Center for Human Rights in Atlanta is expected to file a lawsuit as soon as the law takes effect.