Still failing almost three months later

[ScatterBastard]

Hello everyone, first time poster, long time troll here!

I skimmed around here and all over the internet and I've yet to find a circumstance similar to mine--hopefully someone can help me out.

I've been smoking heavily--5-8 times a day for the past three years. I'm a larger guy clocking in at 6'3/250lbs, and that's more fat than muscle.

I was put on probation Dec. 8 for misdemeanor possession, that was my last day smoking.

I failed a test on the 28th, understandably, since it had only been 20 days since I stopped. I took an at home test before my January meeting (25th) and there was a very faint pass line. I've yet to hear from my PO(Probation Officer) about that test, so I'm praying that means I'm OK, but she's probably just waiting to give me the results at our next meeting next week.

Now for what really has me thrown. I went to my initial clinical evaluation today and I FAILED. It was a urine test, testing for all the commonly abused drugs, and everyone cleared except there was no line to be found for a pass line w/ THC.

So now I've got it down to three scenarios.
1. The at home test was faulty, or the faint line I saw was me wishing it there.
2. The test I took today showed a false positive (an absence of a second line doesn't necessarily mean I failed right?) I paid to have it sent to the lab.
3. I somehow came in enough contact with bud in the past month to fail a current test.

I may be freaking myself out, but assuming either 1 or 3 are correct, that means that after almost three months, it's still in my system. There are three specific instances that I can recall that could have put me in jepordy

1. New Years Eve there was smoking in the apartment I was at. You could smell the odor throughout the apartment, but I wasn't sitting next to anyone with a blunt or anything like that.
2. My fiance smoked the last little bit we had, and before she did I just held up the stanky stuff in the light and took a wiff of the nug before it was gone. (Mid January) Im sure she kissed me shortly after, as well as lit me a few cigarettes over the next couple hours (She hooks it up while I game)
3. At the end of January I went to a dubstep show in downtown Atlanta. There were probably 100 people crammed in a 15x15 foot space, and aside from the DJs all smoking, one look around the room suggested that at least half the people in there were smoking, there was a very strong odor of marijuana for almost the entire four hour show.

I didn't think it was possible to inhale enough second hand smoke to even remotely show up on a drug screen short of sitting in a hotboxed car with multiple joints/blunts floating around, so I can't imagine it would have been 1 or 3, but neither would simply touching it??

And that's where I'm at. I have a meeting with my PO next week and I'm so lost on what to do. I'm assuming that I failed my January test (which would put me in violation) if I just failed the clinical evaluations test, and I have NO idea how. I know every story the PO's hear upon failing is that "they didn't use, and have no clue why they would fail a test", so any amount of the story I would share wouldn't convince her otherwise.

Sorry for the wall of text, thank you if you're still reading, now for my actual questions:

WTF? Has anyone heard of this happening before? I know I'm overweight, but for me to fail a test what? 75 days after stopping smoking just seems unreal to me.

I know it's at the digression of the PO, but if I am found in violation, is it typical to first get a warning, have the conditions of the probation altered, or should I be ready to go to jail for the remainder of my probation period?

Also, I've contacted my attorney, hoping to hear back from him tomorrow, but what questions should I have for him? Should I ask for him to come to my actual meeting with my PO? Would it help at all?

Lastly, I know he'll do anything and be anywhere for my money, but am I wasting my time asking for his presence? Could he even play a role in the outcome if I were to be found in violation?

Thank you in advance for any responses, you're helping out someone stressing SO hard right now without having anything to relieve the stress itself

ScatterBastard Reviewed by ScatterBastard on 02-16-2011. Still failing almost three months later Hello everyone, first time poster, long time troll here! I skimmed around here and all over the internet and I've yet to find a circumstance similar to mine--hopefully someone can help me out. I've been smoking heavily--5-8 times a day for the past three years. I'm a larger guy clocking in at 6'3/250lbs, and that's more fat than muscle. I was put on probation Dec. 8 for misdemeanor possession, that was my last day smoking. I failed a test on the 28th, understandably, since it had Rating: 5

[Burnt Toast]

Yes its virtually impossible to test positive from secondhand smoke.

And you cannot test positive from merely handling weed. Urine tests look for drug metabolites. The weed must be ingested and metabolized by the body in order for it to be detected on a U/A.

A "faint" line in the T window still counts as a negative. If the T window remains blank after 4-5 minutes, its a positive.


Its not all uncommon for longtime heavy users to test positive for 60 days or more. Theres actually a report of an individual that took 105 days to finally test negative. Of course this person was a HEAVY user for over a decade, weighed in on the wrong side of 375 lbs and indulged in zero physical activity.

[ScatterBastard]

Thanks for your response Toast!

I can't seem to search google without having 10 pages of ask.com answers show up, but would you happen to have any of these cases bookmarked so I could dig through them and possibly try to build a defense for myself?

Even if it won't help at all, or if my PO just flat out doesn't care, I feel inclined to do whatever I can to attempt to prove my innocence.

[Burnt Toast]

The trouble with probation drug testing is that the probationeer has virtually relinquished the rights normally enjoyed by persons taking an employment test, including the right to a fair drug test.
Many probation departments, in an effort to keep costs down, use cheap screens with no confirmation test. These cheap screens are prone to false positives. A person taking certain OTC/scripted meds can result in false positives for THC or any other drug tested on a given panel. Without the confirmation GC/MS to disprove the false positive, the donor can get sent back to jail for simply taking the wrong medications.

[ScatterBastard]

Well I have to sign to have each test sent off to the lab with my PO--There's no on site test taken, I urinate in the cup and its immediately sealed/sent off, so hopefully that means if the cheap test my clinical evaluation used was showing a false positive, my real one won't.