Lab Tests Find No Fentanyl on Flyers (Field Drug Tests Inaccurate)

On June 26, 2018 the Harris County Sheriff's Office reported that Flyers Laced With Fentanyl Placed on Cars. I provided a link to that information here in my blog.

The Sheriff made the public notification after a deputy handled one of the flyers and began to fill ill. A drug field test of the flyer handled by the deputy (and flyers from other vehicles in the area) was conducted and the field test returned positive results for Fentanyl.

However, laboratory have now been completed on the flyers. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences tested 13 flyers – all promoting the same organization as the flyer found on the sergeant's car – as well as clothing items and blood and urine samples from the sergeant. Those tests came back from the laboratory as negative for the drug.

OK, if field drug tests report the presence of a potentially deadly drug, the Harris County Sheriff's Office should make a public announcement and warn others of the potential threat. Nobody should fault the Sheriff for warning the public to beware.  (Nixle Alert, June 29, 2018)

But here's the problem...  The scare highlights just the latest problem with field drug tests: they are not accurate! The Houston Chronicle reported in July 2016 that 298 people had been convicted of drug possession, even though complete lab tests later found no controlled substances in the samples tested at the scene.

All 298 people pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanors before the field samples had been tested in the county's forensic laboratory. Many of those people pleaded guilty based on the initial testing kits indicated the substance recovered at the scene was positive for drugs.

It is too often the case that people who are not guilty of any crime will take some kind of a plea bargain just to bring the legal process to an end.  Corrupt police departments can drag out "investigations" for months wearing down the wrongly accused until they are ready take a plea deal, when offered by the prosecutor, just to make it all finally end.

And "even though complete lab tests later found no controlled substances in the samples tested at the scene" the individuals who took the plea bargains still have these convictions on their records and will have to complete whatever sentence was imposed by the courts. 

 

 

 

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