Research conducted by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (via Time Healthland) showed that some popular baby soaps and shampoos can generate a false positive in marijuana tests. Products from Johnson & Johnson, Aveeno and CVS in minute amounts as little as .1 milliliters or less were all found to have contributed to false positives for marijuana in newborns.
Researchers chose to conduct the study after noticing unusually high positive marijuana test results coming back in their hospital nursery. Hospitals commonly test newborns for drugs and alcohol to identify high-risk parents and determine whether the hospital should notify child welfare authorities. Evidence of these substances in newborns is evidence that the mother had consumed them while pregnant.
So what does that mean for grown men and women? Although UNC’s report did not address the effects in adults, it is not unreasonable to posit that soaps and shampoos could potentially also contribute to false positives in marijuana tests conducted during the investigation of a DUI. UNC researchers tested polyquaternium-11 and cocamidopropyl betaine. substances commonly found in many soaps and shampoos used by adults, and not just babies. In the case of babies, researchers suggest that trace amounts of the triggering chemicals were washed from the surrounding skin into the children’s urine during testing. Again, not unreasonable to presume that the same could happen to an adult under suspicion of DUI.
In DUI cases where the substance at issue is marijuana, law enforcement and prosecutors rely almost solely on the results of chemical tests to demonstrate evidence in their case. This research highlights the shortcomings inherent in chemical testing for marijuana in the course of a DUI investigation.
The next time you’re pulled over and charged with a marijuana DUI, consider your selection of body wash – it may be the culprit!
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