One of the biggest sources of the erosion of liberty in America is the War on Drugs.  In addition to enshrining the idea that the government ought to be telling people what to do with their own bodies, it has been the single biggest factor driving the militarization of law enforcement, the erosion of due process, and the steady loss of security from arbitrary search and seizure.

Many drug prosecutions and convictions are based not on catching someone actually in possession of drugs, but through chemical testing to identify drug residues.   However, according to a new report by the Marijuana Policy Project, a recent series of experiments with the Duquenois-Levine test, the most widely used test in the US, showed that it gives false positives for such substances as spearmint, patchouli, and eucalyptus.  Previous studies have also demonstrated false positives for lavender, cyprus, and oregano.  In addition, the widely used “Narcopouch” field drug test gave false positives for vanilla, ginger, anise, peppermint, ginseng, cloves, cinnamon leaf, and a number of flower essences, among other things.

Despite Supreme Court rulings that nonspecific tests cannot be used as the sole basis for prosecution or conviction, the Duquenois-Levine test is used for just that in many jurisdictions and results in thousands of convictions every year

A number of innocent people have been arrested on the basis of these tests, and were saved from lengthy prison terms only after subsequent lab testing- which sometimes was done only because their own attorney demanded it- proved that the field tests were false.  The most famous incident of this nature involved Don Bolles, drummer for The Germs, who spent three days in jail because of a drug test that couldn’t tell the difference between date rape drugs and soap.

False convictions, by their very nature, are not publicly identified as such, so unless the victim is eventually exonerated they pass unnoticed.  Thus, the stories of people who were wrongly arrested are surely only the tip of the iceberg.  Even when there is no conviction, merely being charged can result in days or weeks in jail, thousands of dollars in legal fees, and police confiscation of property that can be almost impossible to get back.

An inaccurate test that easily produces false positives is a problem if your goal is accurately identifying drug users.  It’s no problem at all if your goal is seizing more money and property for the police department through asset forfeiture,  padding arrest records for police and conviction rates for prosecutors, or collecting as many scalps as you can so that politicians can boast that they are “tough on crime.”  These are the sort of incentives the War on Drugs creates.

For a more thorough examination and some statistics, you can read a PDF of the report here.  Thanks to Radley Balko’s recent post for making me aware of this.  His blog, The Agitator, is an invaluable resource on law enforcement and the War on Drugs in the United States.  You can also check out the Bureaucrash page Who Owns You? for more on the basics of how libertarian philosophy applies to the War on Drugs.