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Beating the Drug Police
Pubdate: Sat, 22 Oct 2005
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 Calgary Herald
Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Deborah Tetley, Calgary Herald
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
BEATING THE DRUG POLICE
For the first few weeks, the products only dribbled out the
door.
As word filtered through town, into the suburbs and out to the
oilpatch work camps, success of the phoney pee business suddenly
became surreal.
From a land where the rush is on for synthetic oil comes a push for a
processed product of a different kind: synthetic urine.
Just three months after selling his first bag of fake pee from Herbal
Essentials, store owner Kelly Hermansen is moving between 35 and 50
units a week of it, along with other drug-masking products.
His Fort McMurray customers cross all socio-economic, workforce and
cultural lines, says the 24-year-old.
"We sell it to everyone from suit-and-tie people to your average
person," says Hermansen, who's owned the tiny basement drug
paraphernalia shop for three years.
"But 95 per cent are oilsands workers, telling me they're worried
about passing pre-screen piss tests because they have mostly pot --
but meth, crack or coke, too -- in their system. Some guys even wear
them just in case they face a random test."
No sooner does he say that when in strolls a man wearing a Suncor
Energy-issued baseball cap. He's in the market for a bag of fake urine.
He declines to give his name, says he works for the company and is
defensive when asked why he needs synthetic pee.
"What do you think I'm going to do with it?" he retorts.
Oilsands companies rely on mandatory drug and alcohol testing to help
ensure safety at the plants, where employees handle expensive, heavy
industrial equipment that's potentially dangerous.
Other than the initial screening tests, urinalysis is used following
workplace incidents only, industry officials say.
Although most customers are marijuana smokers, a drug that can stay in
the system up to a month, other shoppers are meth and cocaine users,
Hermansen says.
Amid his illicit-drug cleansing, screening and masking kits are two
fake urine products.
Referred to as the "poor cousin," the $46 fake-urine-in-a-bottle is
sold under the name Quick Fix and comes with two ounces of yellow
liquid, a temperature strip and heating pad.
Consumers say one of the drawbacks of this product is the number of
steps involved, including pouring the contents into a container and
heating the pad in a microwave to just above body temperature.
That's why Hermansen's top seller (aptly named Number 1) is a more
"sophisticated" product. For $85, buyers acquire 3.5 ounces of
synthetic urine sealed inside a clear vinyl package that looks like a
hospital IV-drip bag. Attached is a wide, white elastic waistband.
Once the user fastens the belt around the waist, the urine bag rests
against the abdomen with a dangling drainage tube.
On testing day, the user rips open the cellophane-wrapped heating pad,
gives it a shake and applies it to the belt side of the urine sack.
Within 15 minutes, the fake pee is to reach appropriate temperature
and stay warm for up to eight hours.
"It's pretty much foolproof. Only one guy came back and that's because
he did the temperature wrong," Hermansen says. "Toxicologists can't
pick it up, why, I really don't know."
But it seems they can -- at least some of the time.
Don LeGatt, a consultant toxicologist for Dynacare Kasper Medical
Laboratories, an Edmonton company that tests Suncor employees,
questions the ethics of businesses selling these kits, because the
intent of the process is to ensure a safe workplace.
"It's a constant challenge for the lab to keep abreast of everything
that is being utilized out there," LeGatt says.
"But some of these synthetic urine manufacturers don't have all their
bases covered either and are missing key human compounds."
Sometimes the colour or temperature of the sample is off, triggering
toxicologists to conduct further tests.
Many companies don't accept inconclusive tests, which is why fake
urine is gaining ground on masking kits, used to cleanse urine.
Industry officials refuse to discuss how many employees attempt to
beat urinalysis, but say those caught tampering are subject to
disciplinary action.
"It is a game to try and keep up with people trying to cheat the
system," says Suncor spokeswoman Brenda Erskine.
"But it's actually worse to get caught tampering than it is to test
positive."
Syncrude spokesman Alain Moore says "a few people" possibly
compromising the safety of workers is shameful.
Hermansen makes no apologies. "The reality is we live in a city with a
lot of drug use and a lot of people who want to hide it."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake