Man Tests Positive for Cocaine After Drinking Coca Tea; Loses Job
By Jacob Sullum
We recently received a letter from a reader who says he lost his job as a truck driver for a trash and recycling company where he had worked for more than two decades because he tested positive for cocaine in a random drug screen after inadvertently consuming some of his wife's coca tea. He notes that the Department of Transportation's drug testing guidelines (PDF) specify that "consumption of coca teas" should not be accepted "as a basis for verifying a cocaine test result as negative."
Far be it from me to defend the ridiculous drug testing policies that have been foisted on employers by the federal government, which in this case (as in many others) led to a patently unfair result for an employee who posed no threat to anyone. But the rule regarding coca tea makes sense from a prohibitionist perspective.
According to a 1996 study reported in Forensic Science International, "the consumption of a single cup of Peruvian or Bolivian coca tea produces positive drug test results for cocaine metabolites." The reason is straightforward: Coca tea contains cocaine; that's where cocaine comes from. So this is not, strictly speaking, a "false positive." Since coca leaf, like cocaine, is a Schedule II substance, coca tea is illegal in the United States, although you can buy it online and customs agents often let it through.
It is not safe to assume that the leaf in these teas, like the leaf used to flavor Coca-Cola, has been "decocainized," and distributors are cagy on this point. For example, "pure powdered coca leaves" from Bolivia sold on Amazon are promoted as a "great coffee substitute" that is "caffeine free," an "energy booster" and "antidepressant" that "acts against fatigue" and is "excellent for diets" as an "appetite suppressant." But the only components of coca it mentions are "potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamins and all elements necessary in a daily diet."
Hmm, what's missing from that list? Coca's stimulating, energizing, mood-lifting, appetite-suppressing effects do not come from potassium. The truck driver who wrote to us says the tea he drank, which his wife got from her mother, is available from brick-and-mortar stores as well as online, and the package says nothing about cocaine or even coca.
So if you have a job that requires drug testing, be careful about 100 percent natural, caffeine-free, yet mysteriously energizing tea from Peru or Bolivia. But if you are a customs agent, carry on as usual.
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Attention Don Juan, Your two guesses were both wrong . I 'm figuring you are still having an oxygen issue, or like most you just do not have the correct informatiom. I have had a month to look up LOTS of information, you obviously have not. You are saying coca leaves, not coca leaf tea, which I have been referring too, that I unknowingly drank. A German scientist named Albert Niemann is the one that developed and improved the purification process to make cocaine out of coca.Coca became cocaine in 1898, around your birthdate. Coca leaf teas, as I am speaking of, is in a tea bag form. Coca leaf teas are NOT illeagal to buy or drink. Sorry, you're wrong. Dr. Teobaldo Llosa established the difference between coca leaf tea and coca leaves that have been proccesed to produce cocaine chlorihydrate which is street cocaine and is illegal . D.O.T. separates coca leaf tea and cocaine because they know that coca leaf tea is NOT A DRUG. Most other countries due take in to account that coca leaf tea is a reasonable medical explanation for a positive result on a drug screen. Why don't you you try and tell people they should be 21 years old to buy grapes? Ya know, that's where wine comes from. Have a nice life. Why don't you have a nice cup of tea and relax. I did in reality get fired for drinking tea. In drug testing , they do not test for drugs , they test for the metabolite the body produces ., but of course I'm sure you knew that. Try some visine!
Coca tea for sale in the U.S. is supposed to have cocaine removed, but the problem is that the drug tests don't actually detect cocaine, as you point out. Trace amounts of cocaine and, more importantly, related alkaloids are present in coca tea even when enough of the cocaine has been removed from the tea to make it legal (like with coffee that you can never completely decaffeinate). You should seek free legal advice from a legal aid society to fight your job loss. If you don't know where to go for legal advice, contact a local law school and they will direct you to a legal aid organization. The fact that you had blood tests soon after the failed test could be strong evidence in your favor. You are being treated unfairly and you do have a chance of getting your job back with legal help.
Thanx doc88 for the info, it is greatly appreciated. I'll let you know what happens.
fyi,the state we live in ,the unemployement hearing the judge ruled that my old company did not competently prove there case to the states satisfaction,and that they were unreasonable in there decision,also that my hubby was a long term employee,who never ever tested positive for any drug,nor is a drug user and supplied a reasonable,competent explanantion for his false positve,yes,they used false positive,thanks for your decentcy,mary 46
What a shame. This man worked for over twenty years and now it is all down the can. No pension, no benefits , just squat. All because of some shitty zero tolerance drug policy. Another innocent victim of the war on drugs where more lives are ruined by the rules than the drugs themselves.
FYI, pension benefits are vested fully at 20 years, at the least, most likely in half that time with the amount subject to years of service. And medical benefits are as well to the extent they aren't eliminated by ObozoCare.
Quit making an extreme and unjustified sob case out of this. Besides, now he has more time to drink coca tea.
YES SIR ALL BENIFITS GONE,NO 20 YEAR BULL,4 O1K,CHARGE FOR EARLY WITHDRAWEL,COBRA,500.00BUCK,YOU KNOW PEOPLE LIKE U WHO HAVE NO COMPASSION USUALLY END UP GETTING THE SAME THING SOME DAY,MY HUBBY HATES TEA,HE SIMPLE TOP-OFF HIS COFFEE WITH TEA I MADE IN THE COFFEE MAKER,AT 4 IN THE MORNING,DO YOUR EYES WORK THAT EARLY,WE FOUND THE TEA,ALONG WITH MANY OTHERS,STRAWBERRY,RASPBERRY IN A BOX IN MY MA'S BASEMENT AFTER HER DEATH ON MARCH 22,ALL THE TEAS WERE UNOPEN,SO INSTEAD OF THROWING THEM OUT,I DRANK THEM MY HUSBAND GOT SCREWED HERE,YOU GOT A MORGAGE WE DO,GOT HEATING BILLS IN THE WINTER WE DO,ALL THIS WILL BE GONE OVER A CUP OF TEA,THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE,SO BEFORE U CRITIZE SOMEONE UNKINDLY ,THINK IF IT HAPPENED TO U,MARY,
If it's illegal , it seems passing strange that outfits are getting away with selling it.
In the mean time, it's hard to imagine, in this day and age, that any adult of average intelligence does not know that cocaine comes from coca leaves, or would fail to understand that a stimulant tea made from coca leaves contains cocaine.
And, of course, just because someone drank some tea, doesn't mean they weren't using cocaine as well. Best case, while sad, is there was a serious lack of good sense involved. Why would someone, knowing they are subject to routine testing , drink coca leaf tea?
MY HUSBAND WENT TO HIS GENERAL DOC IMMEDIATELLY,BLOOD TEST,URINE,NOSE THROAT MOUTH ,BASICALLY CHECKED FROM HEAD TO TOE ALLLLL CAME BACK NEGATIVE FOR ANY DRUGS,HE HAS NEVER FAILED NUMEROUSE D.O.T RANDOM DRUGS TEAT IN 23 YEARS ,NEVER TESTING POSITIVE,AND THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE FROM COCA TEA ,ITS A TEA,THE INE IN COCAINE IS A CHEMICAL ALTERATION FROM A SCIENTIS IN THE 1800'S IN GERMANY,ALSO COCA TEA IS TEA,COCAINE STREET IS CHLORHYDRATED COCAINE,SEE COCAINE SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS.ALSO IT TAKES 500 LBS OF LEAFS TO BE CHEMICALLY ALTER TO MAKE I THINK 1 GRAM OF STREET COCAINE , SEE ADVERTISEMENT ON INKA TEA,AS OF JUNE 9 TH A 20 YEAR VETEREN ON THE NEWYORK DETECTIVE SQUAD WAS JUST FIRED FOR THE EXACT SAME THING,3 MILITARY GUYS ,ALL DIFFERENT DIVISION DIFFERENT TIMES SAME THING,THE JUDGE THRU OUT THE C ASES,A CHICAGO COP SAME THING,MY HUBBY IS NOT A STUPID MAN,JUST A INNOCENT PERSON SCREWD BY SOME ARCHIAC BELIEF AND AS SHOWN IGNORANCE,THE EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE EXCEPTS COCA TEA CONSUMPTION AS A LEGITIMIT MEDICAL REASON FOR A FALSE POSITIVE,EMERGENCY MEDICINE ALSO,ALL COUNTREIS EXCEPT USA ACCEPT IT AS RESONABLE REASON FOR A FALSE POSITIVE,IT IS NOT ILLEGAL IN THE USA IT IS A TEA,LOOK IT UP,WE KNEW NONE OF THIS TILL HE GOT FIRED,DO U BLAME GRAPES FOR THE WINE,DO U BLAME POPPY SEEDS FOR THE HERION,NONO-WHERE ON THIS BOX DOES IT MENTION COCA OR COCAINE,MARYW
I WAS JUST TERMINATED FOR FAILING A DRUG TEST THAT CAME UP POSITIVE FOR COCAINE. FOUND OUT IT WAS THE COCA LEAF TEA. YOU CAN SEE MY STORY ON WBOC.COM
THIS WOMAN MARY AND HER HUSBAND ARE TELLING THE TRUTH