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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

What happens after a false positive?

captainballs

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 21, 2004
Messages
9,954
So say you are about to get a pretty good job, and you get a false positive for something. Do you get a chance to explain yourself? More specifically, is there any procedure that the company will go through automatically so that you won't have to pay a lawyer to state your case?

Anyone been through this situation before?
situation_falsepositive
 
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If it's a panel test they should send it off to a lab, if it's at the lab they should test again incase of human error. Perhaps at the lab they might just tell you you're fucked since another sample may be clean at that time, but it would be very easy to fuck up a lab test. They put little vials of the sample in the machine's slots, with the corresponding slot number to the person's name. They can easily put the vial in the wrong slot or put the wrong number tothe wrong name. If you accept it with positive they may leave it, but if you raise hell and accuse them of fucking it up I don't see how they coulnd't offer to retest.
 
I would assume in a lab the gc/ms wouldn't have false positives, but the panel can.

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/testing/testing_faq.shtml#3
"3.2.1 Ibuprofen: Ibuprofen is a common pain reliever that (even in low dosages) used to cause a false THC positive on the EMIT test. The EMIT has been changed to use a different enzyme to eliminate false positives due to Ibuprofen. Ibuprofen in very high doses will still interfere with both the EMIT and the GC/MS. There is some conflicting data here because some sources say that the GC/MS tests can distinguish between Ibuprofen and THC (as well as other over-the-counter drugs).

3.2.2 Cold remedies, pain relievers, hay fever remedies, & diet pills: Decongestants and diet pills result in false positives for amphetamine use in one third of the test samples given to 40 of the countries leading laboratories. There are roughly 300 over-the-counter drugs that cause false positives on the EMIT.

3.2.3 Antibiotics: Certain antibiotics (like Amoxicillin) are claimed to cause a positive for heroin or cocaine. My expert source was unable to verify this, so I regret that there is some uncertainty here.

3.2.4 Melanin (black skin): Melanin is the brown pigment that protects your skin from UV rays. It was raised as a discrimination issue in the 1980's, and argued that melanin's molecular structure is similar to that of a THC metabolite. Subsequent research revealed flaws in the data. Melanin was found to have no effect on THC metabolite testing.

3.2.5 DHEA: DHEA taken by AIDS patients will cause a false positive for anabolic steroid use.

3.2.6 Dental treatment: Caine products (like novacaine) used in dentistry have been known to cause false positives for cocaine."
 
I read about all that stuff including DXM causing false THC positive, etc. Erowid is any insanely useful site, but I have yet to find any information anywhere about what happens after a false positive. Do companies generally not give you a chance to explain yourself? It just wouldn't seem fair or legal.
 
I've only heard of dxm showing positive for pcp and opiates, pcp showing positive more rarley than opiates. I personally don't know how comapnies react, I assume it varies.

Also from the same link:
"11. IF YOU FAIL
If you fail the test, raise hell. Failing the drug test has been known to make a quiet person go ballistic. You will be interviewed by a medical review official (MRO), who would try to find out why you tested positive. MRO's are NOT impartial. An MRO is an employee of the lab, and is there for quality control. They are also there to protect the lab by coercing the court into thinking that the person who failed is a drug abuser. "Anything you say to an MRO can and will be used against you" (RDW). If you fight it, your lawyer "can subpoena the proficiency testing records of the laboratory for review" (anon1). These questions should be asked about the lab you are challenging:

How does the lab handle samples? Are they NIDA/CAP certified? Do they participate in appropriate proficiency testing? Whay is their track records in the proficiency testing program? Have they ever failed a proficiency test? What are the qualifications of the technical staff performing the test? What technologies do they use to screen and confirm?

"Conquering the Urine Tests" provides additional legal advice that will help you before taking a test, and if you fail a test.

Laura Gibson, a medical doctor on the internet, tested positive and was not hired. She had a poppy seed bagel that morning, not knowing it was a false positive. She fought it to the point where they just decided to throw out the results and hire her anyway. But don't go taking it to court; it's virtually impossible to win this case.

If you're an adult, contact ACLU. If you're a child, don't bother; ACLU won't do anything for children who fail the drug test. Then mail me at and tell me what you tried so I can use that to help others. Many people ask for advice before the test, then don't report back.

There is a way to fight drug testing. If you ever serve as a juror for a case where someone is being charged for a drug offense, and a drug test is used as evidence, be aware of jury nullification. If sufficient evidence is submitted supporting a law you consider unjust, you have a RIGHT to vote not-guilty, simply because you disagree with the law. You may agree with the law, yet disagree with the punishment for that particular crime. If you feel the punishment will be too harsh, you also have the right to vote not-guilty. Vote your conscience. The court never tells the jurors of this [hidden] right, but it's there. The Fully Informed Jury Association is a good source for this information.

Many employers no longer show lab results to employees. They just get rejected if seeking employment. Elderly employees are getting fired for failing the test; incidentally losing all of their pension benefits."

Of course this is if the lab shows a false positive, which is A LOT rarer than a panel having an error, but it can happen.
 
Thank you for your input. I'll let you know what happened in a couple of months if I'm still around (gee, I wonder if I'll be able to stop posting on BL gee). Thanks again.
 
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