Testing hair for drug use

[00svtlightning]

Just curious if any of you had any thoughts on the use of hair for drug testing. Any experiences or anything. I was reading a news article about Boston PD firing some officers because their hair tested posisitve

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050825/ap_on_re_us/hair_drug_tests

[Bodie]

One of the less intrusive methods. No blood or urine required. Not as messy and bodily fluids change hands. Been upheld in many court cases as solid method for drug and DNA testing

[gotthblues]

my wife was the officer manager for a drug and alcohol testing facility before we moved, it is very effective and very hard to tamper with the test, the only down side is that you cant have short hair, they can still test it but you'll be left with an almost bald spot.

[toby101]

How much hair do they need to take for the test.

[gotthblues]

How much hair do they need to take for the test.

about the "girth" of a nickle or a dime, i believe, it s a heck of a lot more than i would have figured, i know that she also said that if someone came in with basically a burr hair cut, they would have to run an elect. razor about 2 inches across their head. dont know why, i am with you, why so friggen much, but i dont know.

[The_524]

They do the hair test for NYPD applicants, and when I did it, they pretty much completely shaved both my legs. But I had really short hair at the time, so my legs were the best option. As far as how much they take from someone's scalp, I'm not sure.

[00svtlightning]

So if you were around say cocaine by environment, like you arrest someone like some of the officers in that article claim would you test positive?

[gotthblues]

So if you were around say cocaine by environment, like you arrest someone like some of the officers in that article claim would you test positive?

uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh, dont know, that is beyond the scope of my intelligence, but i would think that they would have already thought of that, for things to be passed/accepted as reliable by most or all board of test, state and fed level, they are scruitinized pretty bad, so im sure they have already thought of that, but i m not sure.

[00svtlightning]

I would figure that too, thats why i was asking...just wanted to know if maybe those guys got caught with their hands in the cookie jar or if they had a legit beef. It's pretty cool that we have to technology to do that though

[mark7777]

the environment made them test positive for cocaine..?

sure and the sky is red.

they were mad because they were caught.

[gotthblues]

I would figure that too, thats why i was asking...just wanted to know if maybe those guys got caught with their hands in the cookie jar or if they had a legit beef. It's pretty cool that we have to technology to do that though

well i would assume that its like the breath test machines, the state just cant pick one and call it good, they have to prove its good,
we needed the tech. for it, when my wife ran that office, she found a catalog that was like about 1 in thick that had nothing but books, and products from pills to fake bladder with fake penis that had a battery operated warmer so you could pass a pee test, so the pee test is very suseptable to corruption.

[gotthblues]

the environment made them test positive for cocaine..?

sure and the sky is red.

they were mad because they were caught.

kinda like " i didnt smoke weed, but someone in the room with me might have"

[00svtlightning]

Well I mispoke a little...Most of the officers were claiming that the test is racially biased, due to the fact that aparently their hair lends itself to showing drugs more so than other types of hair, in the article it mentioned that a narcotics detective was randomly tested on his arm, and he claimed it was from an environmental cause, had other tests done including another hair one that all came back clean...

[gotthblues]

Well I mispoke a little...Most of the officers were claiming that the test is racially biased, due to the fact that aparently their hair lends itself to showing drugs more so than other types of hair, in the article it mentioned that a narcotics detective was randomly tested on his arm, and he claimed it was from an environmental cause, had other tests done including another hair one that all came back clean...

anymore everything is racially biased, even if you are not a member of a race, i know it does happen, but my gosh, EVERY FREGGIN THING IS NOT ABOUT RACE.

[gotthblues]

Well I mispoke a little...Most of the officers were claiming that the test is racially biased, due to the fact that aparently their hair lends itself to showing drugs more so than other types of hair, in the article it mentioned that a narcotics detective was randomly tested on his arm, and he claimed it was from an environmental cause, had other tests done including another hair one that all came back clean...

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT so if someone profiles then it is actually okay, cause some races are........ made of drugs?????????