STATE SHOULD OUTLAW URINE KITS

North Carolina should follow the example set by South Carolina and make
selling urine to defraud a drug screening test illegal.

There's something wrong when a person can be convicted in South Carolina of
a felony for selling urine to help probationers, prospective employees and
others fraudulently pass drug tests, but the same act is legal in North
Carolina.

A Greenville, S.C., jury convicted Kenneth Curtis on Friday under a 1999
South Carolina law that makes it illegal to sell urine to help people beat
drug tests.

Curtis could have faced up to eight years in prison. Instead, he was
sentenced to six months in prison, five years' probation and ordered to pay
a $10,000 fine. His attorneys plan to appeal. Curtis said he is closing the
business because the judge ruled he would go to prision for six years if he
is caught selling urine while free on appeal or during his probation.

Curtis used to operate in Greenville, but moved his company to
Hendersonville shortly after his April arrest in South Carolina. He and his
online company, Privacy Protection Services, sold kits containing a packet
of urine, a heating pack, duct tape and instructions on how to conceal the
kit so it appears the user is giving his own sample.

Hendersonville Police Department Assistant Chief John Nicholson said the
N.C. attorney general's office told him there are no laws in North Carolina
that govern the type of service that Curtis and Privacy Protection Services
offer.

"I think it (new legislation) is warranted," said Nicholson.

Curtis makes no effort to conceal his purpose in selling the urine kits; he
says he believes that random drug testing violates the First Amendment.

Maybe he means the Fourth Amendment. But drug tests are not a violation of
either.

In 1999, Curtis gained national attention by going to the Greenville Law
Enforcement Center to sell the urine kits in hopes of being arrested. He
wasn't, but the attention helped land him on the Montel Williams Show.

Joe West, an S.C. State Law Enforcement special agent, testified that when
he was buying one of the kits, one of Curtis' employees even guaranteed the
urine samples were 100 percent drug-free.

It's a good thing South Carolina courts don't agree with Curtis. In July
the state Supreme Court upheld most of the 1999 law, rejecting arguments
that it was vague, served no public purpose, violated interstate commerce
and invaded privacy. The court unanimously ruled part of the law was
unconstitutional because it would have required jurors to presume guilt if
a urine kit is sold with heating equipment or instructions on defrauding a
drug test.

Too bad North Carolina doesn't have a comparable law. One of our state
representatives or state senators ought to introduce a bill in the next
session of the General Assembly to make selling urine to help people cheat
on drug tests illegal.

Such a large hole in the state's laws ought to be sealed quickly.