cannabisnews.com: Drug-testing Patch Provides Questionable Results!





Drug-testing Patch Provides Questionable Results!
Posted by FoM on August 13, 1999 at 14:59:50 PT
NORML Weekly Update News
Source: NORML
August 12, 1999, Los Angeles, CA: The reliability of a drug-testing patch worn primarily by federal probationers and parolees across the country has come into question due to conflicting studies and drug tests. 
The patch detects drug use through the wearer's perspiration, but in some cases provides false-positive results. Preliminary research conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, indicate that the patches are testing positive for drugs that the wearer did not ingest and that they can show a positive result from drug traces that linger in upholstery, clothing or money.   Defense lawyers in northern California have begun compiling a list of dozens of people who failed the patch test, yet had clean urine and hair tests.  Neil Fortner, the expert witness used by PharmChem, the developers of the patch, has successfully convinced courts nationwide that the patch is trustworthy. Recent information published by the LA Weekly Online http://www.laweekly.com/ink/99/37/news-beiser.shtmlcalls into question his academic credentials and the ethical ramifications of serving as PharmChem's expert witness while also being a substantial stockholder in the company.  "America's court system shouldn't be bushwhacked by either pseudo-science or it's practitioners," said NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. "Even worse, PharmChem wants to expand patch testing to the general workforce. Employers would be able to monitor their workers 24 hours a day."  For more information contact Allen St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation   202-483-8751. NORML Weekly Update News 8/06/99MassCANN Files Decrim Initiatives for Massachusetthttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2376.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by Steve Alan Covington on December 18, 2000 at 19:29:54 PT:
drug patch false/positive
I had the drug patch on me for a 7 day period and a couple weeks after they said it came back positive for Meth. I was SHOCKED and extremely upset. I had to do 10 days in the county jail for it. I begged them to take ANY test they wanted to verify that I was clean, which I was, but they refused and said that a positive patch is a dirty test and I was off to jail. I don't trust the patch and will not allow it on me again unless they back-up with daily urine and or blood. There is a flaw in the patch!
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