DEA Attorneys Explain How Drug Testing Can Impact Your Criminal Case

How Drug Tests Can Impact Your Criminal Case, Explained by DEA Attorneys

When you’re facing drug charges, one of the key pieces of evidence is usually the drug test. Whether it’s a urine test, blood test, or even a hair follicle test, that positive result can totally change the direction of your case. As DEA attorneys who regularly deal with drug cases, we want to break down exactly how these tests work and how they can impact your criminal defense.

Let’s start with the basics – what do these tests actually detect? Well, they don’t just generically look for “drugs.” Instead, they detect specific substances and metabolites that are left behind when someone ingests certain illegal drugs. For example, a urine test might look for traces of cocaine, marijuana, opiates, amphetamines etc. The more advanced the test, the more substances it can potentially identify.

This brings us to our next point – how sensitive are these drug tests nowadays? Very, is the short answer. We’re talking sensitivity to literally billionths of a gram in some cases. They’ve come a long way from the basic instant drug tests police might use in the field. We’re talking lab-grade equipment that can pick up on minute traces of drugs or metabolites long after the effects have worn off.

For instance, marijuana can be detected for weeks after use in a urine test. Opiates, cocaine, and other “harder” drugs tend to clear the system faster, but can still show up days later under the right testing methods. And hair testing? That can potentially detect substance use for months, even if you only used one time. The point is – these tests cast a wide net.

How Drug Test Results Can Undermine Your Criminal Defense

“But I wasn’t high at the time” is a common defense we hear – and it often doesn’t hold much weight once that positive test result comes back. Even if you weren’t actively intoxicated, a positive drug test can undermine critical elements of your defense, including:

• Motive – If recreational drugs are in your system, it can suggest a motive for committing drug-related crimes to support that habit. This can be especially damaging in possession cases.
• Credibility – Illegal drug use can be used to attack your credibility as a defendant. If you test positive, it opens you up to character arguments.
• Public safety – In cases like DUI, a prosecutor can argue that you’re a danger to others if you drive with illegal substances in your system, even if you don’t feel impaired. This ratchets up the public safety aspect.
• Probation/diversion eligibility – Many alternative programs or probation offers are contingent on staying clean. A dirty test hurts your chances of qualifying for these more lenient sentences.
• Parole status – Those on parole often have to pass random UAs. Just one failed test can land you back behind bars in some cases, even if you’re following all other release terms.

The reality is most prosecutors will jump all over a positive drug test without much concern for when or why you actually used. It checks an important box for them by proving the presence of illegal substances. That alone can torpedo many common criminal defenses.

Even Prescription Drugs Can Cause Issues

We also see legal prescription drugs come back to bite defendants too. Just because your hydrocodone or Adderall was lawfully prescribed by a doctor doesn’t mean it can’t cause problems. Prosecutors often question why certain medications were prescribed and argue that you don’t have a valid medical need.

In DUI cases for instance, they may claim that even prescription drugs can impair driving ability. Or in a possession case, they’ll speculate that you’re misusing or diverting your legal prescriptions illegally. This quickly shifts the focus onto you having to validate why these medications were prescribed in the first place – dragging your medical history into things.

Independent Drug Testing is Critical for Your Defense

By now the importance of independent drug testing is probably clear. You can’t just rely on (or try to explain away) potential prosecution test results. The best defense is having your own tests done promptly after arrest by accredited professionals.

Independent tests are huge for contradictory evidence arguments. If their results come back different than law enforcement’s tests, it raises credible doubts. But acting quickly is crucial – as most substances clear the system within hours or days after use. You need to get tested ASAP while trace metabolites may still be detectable.

Working with an experienced criminal defense lawyer is the best way to get independent testing lined up properly. They can subpoena lab reports, challenge prosecution analyses, and question the accuracy/reliability of their testing processes. But having your own tests to reference is key.

The Type of Drug Test Matters Too

There are a few main methods for drug testing, including:

• Urine – Most common, as it’s easy to collect and detect recent drug use. But also most intrusive and hardest to contest or explain away positive results.
• Blood – More accurate at quantifying active drug levels in your system versus urine. But also invasive and still shows historic use.
• Hair – Goes back furthest historically (up to 90 days) but doesn’t prove active intoxication. Challenging hair test processes/handling is important.
• Saliva – Less intrusive than blood/urine but typically only shows very recent drug use. Windows are typically 12-36 hours for most substances.

Ideally your independent drug testing will collect multiple specimen types – urine, blood, hair etc. That allows for comparison against law enforcement’s test results later. The more specimens, the more complete contradiction arguments your lawyer can make if there are any discrepancies.

Common Defenses Against Positive Drug Tests

Some of the most common defense arguments we present against damning drug tests include:

• False positives – No test is 100% accurate, especially field tests. We look closely at laboratory protocols, safeguards, and calibration records to identify any flaws in analysis or room for errors.
• Contamination – Similarly, we investigate if specimen collection methods were flawed and allowed for accidental contamination of the sample. Things like sanitization, broken seals, unclear timelines etc can show sloppy handling.
• Testing delays – Metabolite degradation is common if too much time elapses between arrest and testing. We scrutinize these windows closely to argue results no longer reflected active intoxication status.
• Prescription conflicts – Verifying legitimate prescriptions through medical records and doctor testimony can help offset concerns over legally prescribed medications that may show up.
• Historical/second-hand use – With hair testing especially, we can argue that longer-term detection may just stem from older use unrelated to the current charges. This aims to put test results into proper context.

Every case has nuances that inform which defense arguments have merit. An experienced legal team understands both testing procedures and precedents around attacking drug test results in court. Having your own tests done promptly is just the starting point. From there, it comes down to undermining the reliability or relevance of any positive law enforcement test findings through careful scrutiny of their processes.

Conclusion – Drug Tests Have Serious Implications

In summary – modern drug testing capabilities are extremely sensitive and make it very difficult for the average person to evade detection of illegal or unexplained legal drug use. Positive results, even from historical use, can have dire impacts on the viability of criminal defense arguments. Too often we see sentences ratcheted up based primarily on damning drug analyses.

This underscores why having an advocate familiar with testing protocols matters tremendously. The science, processes and safeguards behind drug testing have advanced rapidly in recent years. Keeping pace as a defense attorney requires constant education. We have to be ready to identify flaws or question results in ways laypeople simply don’t grasp. Independent testing paired with picking apart the opposition findings plays a huge role in controlling damage.

The key for anyone facing charges is getting experienced representation on your side immediately. The faster we can act to verify or undermine drug testing claims through careful scrutiny of processes, the better your chances of reducing sentencing down the road. If you or a loved one are staring down drug charges, don’t go it alone – get an attorney consulted ASAP.