by Ben Horner
Michigan House Health Policy Committee heard testimony largely in support of senate bill SB 134, a bill to criminalize the use and sales of fake urine and detox products designed to help people beat drug tests. As written, attempting to beat a drug test for work or anything else in Michigan would be a misdemeanor, punishable up to 1 year in jail and up to a thousand dollar fine. A distributor that delivers, sells or possesses a drug-masking product on their self would make it a misdemeanor to “distribute, deliver, sell, or possess with intent to distribute, deliver, or seal a drug masking product.” If the distributor is caught in the act of selling the products the charge becomes a felony, and which could result in up to five years or a fine of no more than $8,000, or both.
Barry Sample, the director of Science and Technology, Employer Solutions at Quest Diagnostics (Quest), called these “insidious products” out. Michigan state senators on the committee agreed and gave examples of employees using these products and creating unsafe workplaces.
“The anti-drug testing industry responds with the continual evolution and sophistication of the products and devices used to defeat the drug-testing process,” explained Sample. “It is a continual cat-and-mouse game.”
If the bill passes, these products will likely be available online and on shelves in Michigan. Detox products are careful to word their packaging in such a way that doesn’t state the use is intended to beat the test, rather claiming to be herbal supplements or novelty items.
Quest and other labs routinely screen for some of the ingredients used in fake urine and herbal detox products. This is common knowledge by those who regularly use and distribute these products.
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