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From: TAM MD
Password: orange
Date: 16 May 2008
Time: 13:30:15 -0700
Remote Name: 66.73.116.22
A patient came to me and wanted help defending him on a recent probation violation. It seems he gave a urine sample as part of his probation and it came up positive for morphine with a point of collection test (on-site test). He was booked on the spot and spent 5 days in jail before posting bail. His sample was sent for confirmation testing while he was in jail and the test came back as morphine at 214 ng/ml. He states he had a large lemon poppy seed muffin prior to the test. It appears on the copy of the lab report he obtained that the result was "negative" but someone asked for the concentration which was also reported. He now has a court date to determine his jail time for a probation violation.
Has any one else had similar run-ins with probation drug tests? I am struck by the lack of qualified input and/or flawed policy of the local court system. The patient states he has been told by his own attorney they have a "zero tolerance" policy and his test result shows 214 ng/ml of morphine. I told him I would provide a letter stating the test result is consistent with poppy seed ingestion.