FRIENDSWOOD — Kits containing synthetic urine, which are sold legally at smoke shops across the state, led to the April arrests of four men accused of using the kits to beat employment drug screens, authorities said.
Friendswood police stopped three of the four men on traffic violations and searched their cars. The fourth was allegedly loitering before police searched his car. Officers asked the men why they had synthetic urine kits.
One similar kit purchased for $30 by The Daily News contains a 2-ounce bottle of yellow, odorless liquid with a strip thermometer attached, a hand warmer, rubber band and directions on how to give a “sample.”
Had the men admitted the fake urine was for medicinal purposes or intended as some kind of joke or twisted fetish, they might have been spared the indignity of handcuffs, a jail cell and scrounging up $1,000 bail.
But these four men, police allege, willingly offered the one explanation that violates the Texas health and safety code, constituting a Class B misdemeanor charge.
“Folks taken into custody told us they had to falsify a drug test based, most cases, on their places of employment,” Friendswood Police Chief Bob Wieners said.
Although one box bought recently on the island clearly states the items are not intended for unlawful use, Wieners and Galveston defense attorney Kevin Rekoff can’t imagine a legal use for the kits.
“I had a client that was on his way to a parole office and was caught with a bladder on him,” Rekoff said. “He had women’s pee, and it tested for some type of pregnancy medication.”
Unless someone can come up with a legal reason for keeping synthetic urine in a bottle with a built-in thermometer and a hand warmer, it’s almost presumed intent to violate the law, Rekoff said.
One manager of an island drug testing clinic said clients must empty their pockets before heading to the restroom with a plastic cup, and employees test the temperature of submitted specimens.
Many times people come in with urine stored, trying to keep it warm inside their pants, the manager said.
If people are anxious to go right away, employees — always on the lookout for suspicious donors — might ask them to wait a little while, the manager said.
Meanwhile, six people have been charged in Friendswood since August, accused of falsifying drug test results.
An attempt to reach one of the kit manufacturers was unsuccessful.
It should be illegal to sell the kits, Wieners said.
Anyone who can’t post bail at Friendswood police station will be sent to the Harris or Galveston county jails. Friendswood only detains those arrested on Class C misdemeanors.
