alternative title, yes, Orange County really does suck.
via the essential Drug WarRant we read of a twisted tale of police malevolence. The drummer of the Germs (yes, the legendary punk band) was arrested for felony drug possession (conviction can mean up to 20 years) by Orange County police because (allegedly) his bottle of peppermint Dr. Bronner's contained GHB.
Total bullshit of course, but the Bronner family did some testing of their own, and found the results to be questionable, at best...
“Our customers need to know now this whole soap opera is a mistake by police who tormented an innocent 50 year old man with jail. We purchased the same NarcoPouch® 928 GHB field test made by ODV, Inc. that was used by the police, and ran tests on our soaps. We confirmed that the test is useless when used on soap since every test came back positive. We also tested other common brands of soap including Johnson & Johnson's popular Neutrogena brand, as well as Colgate-Palmolive's popular Tom's of Maine brand, which gave the same false-positive tests as well.What kind of justice system allows police to use field drug tests that deprive citizens of their God-given liberty, that test positive for something as common as soap? What kind of policies and regulations are in place on police drug-testing practices and products, such that a US citizen can be tossed in the slammer over Easter weekend for possession of soap? Police departments nationwide should immediately stop using the ODV, Inc. field test for GHB as it is not accurate when used on soaps and who knows what other common household products.”
Sounds like a good case to be made for false arrest.
Tags: civil_liberties, /civil_rights, /Drug_War_Ridiculousness, /drugs
