False Positive Drug Tests in Oregon

There are frequently false positive drug tests in Oregon. The most common test kit used by Oregon State Police troopers, local sheriff’s deputies, and city police officers is the NIK kit. The kits are relatively inexpensive and used in the field (during active investigations) to quickly test for controlled substances (aka “illegal drugs”). They are also used improperly by law enforcement to mislead suspects, judges, grand jurors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, defendants, and third-parties by providing a quasi-scientific aura to field drug testing. Take, for example, a cop in the field who wants to arrest someone for possession of cocaine. Let’s say the person is found in possession of some pills and white powder in a baggie, but denies possession of cocaine. The cop runs a NIK test and then tells the suspect (the person is now a “suspect” in the eyes of the cop) that the test came back positive for cocaine. The cop will then arrest the suspect, and book them into jail. At the grand jury proceeding, the cop will tell the prosecutor and the grand jurors that the person was in possession of cocaine, based on the NIK test. This may make the difference between felony charges being filed, or not. The truth of the matter is that Tylenol PM could cause a NIK test to come back positive for cocaine– even though there is no cocaine in Tylenol PM.

For an illustrative video of how false positive drug tests can happen, check out the video below:

Researchers Expose Police Field Drug Test Kits – They Test Positive to Just About Everything

If you’d like to read even more about this project, check out the False Positives Equal False Justice executive summary.

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