Flawed Field Drug Tests Lead to Wrongful Arrests
Common field drug tests used by law enforcement are highly inaccurate, leading to tens of thousands of wrongful arrests each year in the US. A new Colorado law aims to address this issue.
Why it matters
Flawed drug testing procedures have major consequences, leading to the unjust incarceration of many innocent people. This new Colorado law could serve as a model for other states to improve their drug testing protocols.
Key Points
- 1Field drug tests used by police are prone to false positives
- 2Tens of thousands of people are wrongfully arrested each year due to these flawed tests
- 3A new Colorado law requires confirmatory lab testing before charges can be filed
Details
Field drug tests used by law enforcement to detect the presence of illegal substances are notoriously unreliable, often producing false positive results. These quick tests are the primary method for on-site drug screening, but studies have shown they can mistake common household substances like laundry detergent or chocolate for illicit drugs. This leads to tens of thousands of wrongful arrests annually across the United States. To address this issue, Colorado has passed a new law requiring any positive field test to be confirmed by a certified laboratory before criminal charges can be filed. This aims to reduce the number of innocent people being arrested and prosecuted based on faulty field tests.
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