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Newsbrief:
NJ
Bans
Devices
That
Defeat
Drug
Tests
8/16/02
"What are you in for, kid?"
asks the hardened con. "Possession of a Whizzinator, sir," comes the reply.
Murder and mayhem it isn't, but under a New Jersey law that took effect
this month, possession of any device designed to fool a drug test has become
a crime. Even possessing the Whizzinator or any of its devious competitors
can get you 18 months and a $10,000 fine. And if you're on probation
or parole or -- an apparently equally suspect class -- a state employee,
the penalty jumps to three to five years and $15,000.
Selling or manufacturing
such products also merits up to five years under the new law, which echoes
laws in effect in a handful of other states. Under a 1997 Pennsylvania
law, it is a third-degree misdemeanor to sell or use "drug-free urine for
the purpose or with the intent or knowledge that the urine will be used
for evading or causing deceitful results in a test for the presence of
drugs." South Carolina prosecuted Kenneth Curtis for manufacturing
such a device last winter (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/218.html#kennethcurtis),
and now that Curtis has moved to North Carolina, that state is pondering
similar legislation.
Federal Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) director of workplace programs
Robert L. Stephenson displayed the inexorable totalitarian logic at work
in the war against drug users. If drug users attempt to avoid or
alter tests, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer, they cannot be trusted.
"It's not that they're a drug user," he said, "but they're trying to beat
the system. How are you going to believe anything else they say?"
-- END --
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Issue #250, 8/16/02
A Message to Our Readers: 250 Issues of The Week Online | US Seeks Civil Injunction Against Lakota Hemp Grower, Supporters Celebrate Successful Harvest | DRCNet Interview: Jack Cole, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition | Initiatives Heat Up I: Tumultuous Week in Nevada, Cops Flip-Flop on Endorsement, Resort to Bald-Faced Lies | Initiatives Heat Up II: Storm Clouds over Ohio | Initiatives Heat Up III: Michigan Governor Flails and Fails in Anti-Initiative Move | Initiatives Heat Up IV: DC "Treatment Not Jail" Initiative Makes November Ballot, Excludes Marijuana, Heroin, Psychedelics | Initiatives Heat Up V: Arizona to Vote on Marijuana Decrim, Much More | Initiatives Heat Up VI: DC Board of Elections Rejected Thousands of Valid Signatures, MPP Challenging | Newsbrief: Afghan Heroin Labs Reappear | Newsbrief: Grateful Dead Reunion Just Like Old Days -- Many Arrested | Newsbrief: NJ Bans Devices That Defeat Drug Tests | Newsbrief: East Europe Teens Catching Up to West in Drug Use | Newsbrief: DARE Axed in Cincy -- Dayton Next? | Newsbrief: Canada Judge Rips DEA Law Violations | Newsbrief: NORML Not Allowed at Indiana State Fair | Newsbrief: Infected Needles, Alcoholism Lead to Increased Liver Damage, Deaths in England, Study Finds | Legislative Alerts: Rave Bill, Medical Marijuana, Higher Education Act Drug Provision | The Reformer's Calendar
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