HOUSE PANEL OKS BILL TO PUNISH DRUG TEST FRAUD

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - State lawmakers are considering a crackdown on
people who use or sell products designed to help avoid positive drug
tests that can cost drug users jobs or put them behind bars.

A House judiciary committee voted 13-0 Thursday for a measure that
would make it a Class 4 felony to use, sell or make products that can
provide false urine samples. Violators would also be fined $1,000.

The bill now heads to the full House.

Supporters say some companies are profiting by blatantly helping
people fix drug tests under the guise that the tests are unfair and
give unpredictable results. The Internet has made the products even
more popular and easily available, said Rep. Roger Eddy, a Hutsonville
Republican sponsoring the measure.

Companies advertise drugs that can mask the presence of illicit
substances in urine, blood, hair follicles, saliva and even sweat.
They also sell synthetic urine.

In the case of the Whizzinator, users are provided with dehydrated
urine that they can reconstitute with water and emit through a device
they wear on an undergarment resembling a jock strap. Officials with
Puck Technology, the California company that makes the Whizzinator,
refused to comment on the proposed legislation.

Eddy said people caught using the products can now lose their jobs but
can't be charged with a crime.

"We are supporting an industry that shouldn't exist," Eddy said. "It
clearly should not be something that this state allows."

The bill is HB3978.