FAKING IT

From Freeze-dried Or Synthetic Urine To Prosthetic Body Parts, Some
Workers Go To Amazing Lengths To Beat Drug Tests

The magazine ads aren't subtle at all. "The Whizzinator" screams one.
"Designed to be comfortably worn as an undergarment for extended periods of
time!" "New and improved!" "Only $149.95."

"Urine Luck" screams another. "Pass any drug test­guaranteed!" "Order 24
hours/day."

But it's not only magazine ads that are touting the latest in
beat-any-drug-test technology. A Web search turns up dozens of companies
and sophisticated products ­ from artificial body parts such as the
"Whizzinator" to fizzing tablets you can drop in the collection cup ­
designed to throw off what those in the industry call the "bladder cops."

"It's a whole cottage industry now," says Becky Vance, director of Drug
Free Business Houston. "The [drug-testing] laboratories are indeed having a
hard time keeping up with them."

About 97percent of Fortune 500 companies do some sort of workplace testing,
says Laura Norfolk, executive director of the Drug and Alcohol Testing
Industry Association. Federal law requires anti-drug policies in companies
that provide some government contracts, but many companies perform drug
tests on their own initiative. About 15percent of small businesses do testing.

With so much drug testing going on, it's no surprise that some in the
workforce are going to extreme lengths to avoid them.

Gadgets not needed

Some job candidates and employees don't even get to the gadget stage.

One local specimen collector, who asked that his name not be used, recalls
how one man went into a rage before the sample was even collected.

"He called me the Antichrist," says the specimen collector, "he said,
'You're just trying to take away everyone's job.'" The irate man hurled the
specimen at the tester, soiling his shirt. "He was fired on the spot," says
the tester. "You know, that's a lot funnier now than it was then."

Throwing a fit is a tactic endorsed by at least one Web site selling
"detox" products. "If you fail the test, raise hell," the site advises.
"Failing the drug test has been known to make a quiet person go ballistic."

It's not just fits that are giving drug testers, well, fits.

Ms. Vance, herself a recovering addict, says she believes tests are mostly
beneficial through their deterrent effect.

But the array of anti-test tools has grown tremendously in recent years,
she says. The federal government recently tightened its testing
requirements to clamp down on diluting or adulterating samples.

Special herbal and carbohydrate drinks promise to "cleanse" the system.
Additives with names such as "Stealth" mix into the urine sample to
interfere with the test.

For the truly determined, there is freeze-dried or synthetic urine to
substitute for one's own with a little sleight-of-hand. There are even
prosthetic body parts (available in four skin tones) that contain heaters
and reservoirs to store fake urine for tests during which the subject is
being watched.

"That's the hardest thing to find," Ms. Norfolk says.

A long history

When workplace drug-testing kicked into high gear in the late 1980s, not
everyone was a cheerleader for this weapon in the "war on drugs."

Their reasons varied. Some, admittedly, were drug users who didn't want to
be caught. Others felt the testing was intrusive. Some, like the 1960s
activist Abbie Hoffman, argued that testing was a police-state tactic that
punishes the innocent along with the guilty.

So the race began.

For every drug test, there grew an equal and opposite way to fight it.
While the test tamperers see it as a battle against invasion of their
privacy, critics say such kits provide a way for opportunists to make money
by mocking a system in place to enhance workplace and public safety.

In 1987, Mr. Hoffman advised people simply to drink lots and lots of water
to flush out their systems and dilute their urine. Companies began testing
for dilution. People began adding chemicals like bleach or vinegar to
samples. Then tests were developed to detect such tampering.

The "detox" industry has since grown more sophisticated, while workers
trying to throw off testers have grown more common.

Another medical reviewer who asked that his name not be used recalls when
one client emerged from the bathroom with a cool sample.

"The temperature of the sample should be between 90 and 100 degrees," the
reviewer says. "He had obviously come to the lab with the sample already on
him."

The client was told to go back to his company and explain what happened.

"He returned about five minutes later," the reviewer says, "not enough time
to get back to work." After following the same procedure, the man emerged
with what appeared to be another sample. "But the cup was too hot," the
reviewer says. "He must have gone someplace and put the sample in a
microwave. I told him to go back to his company and tell them what
happened. I never saw him again."

Under Texas law, employers with 15 or more employees with workers'
compensation insurance coverage are required to adopt a policy to eliminate
drug abuse in the workplace. The only requirement is that the employer
distributes a copy of the policy to employees. Otherwise, the employer is
free to design its own policy and procedures.

Studies are mixed about whether workplace drug-testing is cost-effective,
as only a small percentage of employees test positive, and those are
largely for marijuana rather than harder drugs.

It's not illegal

While California lawmakers have drafted legislation to outlaw the
manufacture, sale or advertising of products designed to alter drug tests,
no such law exists in Texas.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Texas State Attorney General's office, says
the state doesn't appear to have any laws about eluding drug tests ­ or
faking the results. "It sounds like a matter between employer and
employee," he says. "It's deception, but I don't think we've ever gotten
involved in a case like that."

Many employers treat altered drug tests as they do a positive test.
Applicants may be disqualified, while employees already on the job can face
sanctions ranging from firing to time in a drug treatment center.

Others don't get off so easily. One supervisor who works with companies and
the county recalls a parolee who reported for his drug test. He entered a
private area with his parole officer.

A few minutes later, only the officer emerged. The supervisor asked where
the parolee had gone.

"The parolee had worn a long sleeved shirt and had strapped an IV bag under
his arm," the supervisor recalls. "A tube ran down the length of his arm
and out his [shirt sleeve]. He pumped his arm, forcing urine into the cup.

"He's going back to jail," the parole officer said.

Hector Cantu and Michael Precker contributed to this report.