False Positives: The Dark Secret of the Drug Testing Regime
The New Scientist has an excellent story on student drug testing which reveals, among other things, that the stupid tests don't even work:
What's more, such tests can flag kids who are "clean" and miss genuine users. A study led by [director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Children's Hospital Boston, Sharon] Levy and published this month in Pediatrics (DOI: 01.1542/peds.2006-2278) examined recent drug tests of teenagers being treated for substance abuse. Of 710 drug tests performed, 85 gave incorrect results, either because the urine sample was too dilute to interpret properly, or because the test picked up prescription medicines.
…"Drug tests can be very difficult to understand and interpret," says Levy. "There are lots of circumstances under which a kid could be using drugs and not test positive or have a positive test when they are not using drugs."
The tests were wrong 11.9% of the time. That's unbelievable. If 12 students out of 100 are getting bogus results, these tests aren't even close to being useful. And while follow-up tests can sometimes set things straight, consider this:
While the rules for federally funded testing say positive results must be checked by an approved lab, no such rules exist for the approximately 500 schools that are testing without federal grants. "Confirmatory testing adds a lot of cost. I don't think most schools are doing it." Levy says.
So the tests are wrong with frightening regularity, yet many schools don’t even have procedures for following up on positive results. That doesn't mean they aren't doing it, but it certainly raises doubts. Here's just one example of how a false positive test can destroy a student's relationship with their school.
As reformers, I believe we've been remiss in failing to emphasize false positives as a primary argument against student drug testing. It may prove difficult to establish the frequency with which they occur, but one is too many and the victims are highly sympathetic. When innocent non-users are accused and subjected to the stigma of drug use erroneously, all perceived values of the program are cast into doubt. This is an argument that might catch the attention of "clean" kids and proud parents who think they've got nothing to lose here.
Funny Side-note: SSDP's Tom Angell once urine tested himself for fun. Tom's reputation for partying is rather undistinguished, so we were certain he'd come up negative across the board. Instead, he came up positive for amphetamines and barbiturates (isn't that what killed Elvis?).
It was amusing that the test was so completely wrong the first time we ever tried it. But then we got chills thinking about families being torn apart by these fraudulent products. Come to think of it, there's nothing at all funny about any of this.
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reddit6 month old baby was positive for cocaine
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 05/23/2007 - 3:47pmmy 6 month old baby was had a hair test done and it came up positive for cocaine she has been on 3 different antibotics in the last month and half is there any way possible that the antibotics made her test come back positive
Tested positive for cocaine
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 8:28pmI just recently took a drug test for work. I took a hair and urine test. My urine test came back negative but my hair test came back positive for cocaine. I've never even done cocaine! How is this possible? Is there anything I can do?
Military
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 3:17pmI was a false positive for marijuana in the military after 2 years a letter of apology came.
The tests were incorrect. Already discharged (general discharge) a ruined career
and tons of stigma. My life is still messed up from this test. Do not do this to children.
FALSE POSITIVE
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 02/13/2008 - 1:32pmI had a test for my probation and came up false positive for coke I have not taken any coke.
I was shocked at the results, I asked for a retest at a lab as i wasnt happy I am waitng for the results back.
I was taking a brazilian slimming pill that has showed up in others as amphetamine.
I am really worried about this has anyone had the same ??
drug hair analysis
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 2:06pm2-29-08
Just had this hair test done today for employment purposes. I am not a drug user, and am shocked that all these false positives are out there. I hope this does not happen to me, as I really need this job. It will be interesting. Looks like a lot of the above posts are stating false positives through hair analysis. Will keep you posted.
meth test
Comment posted by Anonymous on Mon, 03/24/2008 - 3:26ammember of my family works on cars for a living he had a hair test done on hair on his arms the chemicals he uses daily there are at least 17 out of 20 chem that are used for meth and he breaths them in and gets them on him every day he is not a drug user except uses a inhaler for his asma the first test came back 4000 parts on test so he did his own two weeks later and came back only 800 parts now chance may loose kids due to this test. can the chemicals he uses cause a false pos
false positive
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 1:50amMy mother was recently tested for drugs at her place of employment. Damned if the test was positive for Maijuana. No damned way, she's in her 60's and never has done this.
Meanwhile her employer won't do a retest. (she figures they must have made a mistake) She tried to get her own test but appearently you just can't go down and pay for your own. Need a Dr's note or employers deal. She did find a place after lots of searching, they told her to check in in the morning to get the results. Now the story has changed and they told her she cannot get the results, she has to go through the Seattle Police.???? What the heck is going on? She ordered and payed for this test.
I've been checking the internet for answers and was shocked to see that so many products may produce a false positive. I asked her if she had listed all of the drugs/suplements/etc. She said they did not mention anything about that when they were taking the sample (hair test)
Just hoping this can get straightened out soon.
Re: Your Mom's false positive results....
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 12:40amHello,
So sorry to hear about your Mom's false positive 'Hair Test' for Marijuana.
My Mom is facing a similar test at here job, where she has been employed for over twenty years.
My question is, what type of supplements was your Mom taking? I would like to warn my own Mother in case she is taking anything that would jeopardize her position.
Good Day,
CJ
false positive for cocaine
Comment posted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 2:36pmi am 35 years old and recently had to take a urine and hair drug test. i am a single mother of 5 children since the death of my husband 8 years ago. i have never in my life done cocaine and never will but yet my urine test came back negative on a 10 panel drug test and my hair test came back positive for cocaine. the cocaine amount was 2716ng which basically would mean i would have used cocaine on a daily basis which i dont. i requested another hair test and are awaiting for the results.
.org
false positive
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/28/2007 - 10:06pmi have a great job i just did a hair test and it came up positive for coke i never ever did that drug in my life somethigns weird i lost my job and now am getiing my own test back