Sweet delicious double standard.

Where is your zero tolerance now?

If this guy gets revealed and fired, I'm hoping some smart employer would hire him and tell the mayor to suck it.

Solty Dog: Where is your zero tolerance now?

I never understood the concept of zero tolerance - it just keeps reminding me of autoimmune disorders which behaves in a same way.

No way can that be healthy.

FTFA: Police Chief John Smith tested positive for codeine during a random drug screening of city employees. The chief said he took the last two pills of an 8-year-old Tylenol 3 prescription to alleviate a sore back a day before taking the random test...

Smith said he threw away the pill bottle and was unable to find a record of the prescription from a doctor's office or pharmacy.


tag asplodes.

We deny the allegations and we are attempting to identify the alligator

Codeine? I'd be more outraged, but that's a pretty lame offense. I could probably get in more trouble by taking too much sudafed.

Thats ok, now whenever they bust anyone for having drugs that can be gotten with a prescription - that person can just say "well its an old prescription, and i dont have any proof" and im sure the judge and all the cops will just go "ok, sounds reasonable!" and let them go.

yeah, right...

I appreciate the irony, but Tylenol 3s? That's like St. John's children's aspirin.

I can understand how that happens.
I store unused pain pills(of the same type)away in a single pill bottle for future use myself, and usually just throw away the spare pill bottle.
And for Bast's sake, it's just Tylenol 3. That stuff is as weak as Lortabs.

People don't really understand how email works, do they?

It's Me Bender: FTFA: Police Chief John Smith tested positive for codeine during a random drug screening of city employees. The chief said he took the last two pills of an 8-year-old Tylenol 3 prescription to alleviate a sore back a day before taking the random test...

Smith said he threw away the pill bottle and was unable to find a record of the prescription from a doctor's office or pharmacy.


tag asplodes.

Smith meant tested positive for morphine, morphine-3-glucuronide in particular.

Mercy for me, and justice for everyone else.

It's not the codeine that needed to be leaked, but the subsequent threats.

Barakku: Codeine? I'd be more outraged, but that's a pretty lame offense. I could probably get in more trouble by taking too much sudafed.

Codeine, morphine and diamorphine (heroin) all metabolize to morphine-3-glucuronide, which is what the test detects. If he cant come up with a script, there is no way its codeine. The pharmacy records are required to go way back, even if the doctors dont.

Smith said he threw away the pill bottle and was unable to find a record of the prescription from a doctor's office or pharmacy.

Odd. He couldn't get a copy from the prescribing doctor, or from the pharmacy he used? I guess he's on double-secret prescription. Or he's a farking liar.

Agarista: It's not the codeine that needed to be leaked, but the subsequent threats.

Well as far as the Mayor, yeah, he should be shiatcanned.

This is hilarious because in Canada you can buy it without a prescription, it's just not that big a deal.

To be honest though, I don't think anybody should be given a hard time for having ANY drug in their body so long as they're doing their job well and not breaking any REAL laws.

#1. If it was a drug used for pain (or quite frankly, for recreation... but that's another thread) I have no problems with it. Monitor him for continued use. Non story.
#2. Worrying about it getting leaked and threatening everyone that knew about it with firing... yeah, there's something else at work there. Politicians/Managers that want to control the press usually have a quick comeuppance when their BS comes to print. Why people can't just let the press do their job (they're generally not that good at it) is beyond me. I guess it's nice to get your story straight in the first place, but seriously... all they had to say is "he popped positive and he is going through an evaluation to determine whether it is abuse and to help him if it is." After that, "no comment" them until he finishes the course, and if someone is still hounding you at the end of the evaluation... put out a statement that he finished treatment successfully. Done.

mrEdude: This is hilarious because in Canada you can buy it without a prescription, it's just not that big a deal.

To be honest though, I don't think anybody should be given a hard time for having ANY drug in their body so long as they're doing their job well and not breaking any REAL laws.

Dude, it's America. The default is to jail anyone who's having fun in ways of which the government doesn't approve.

Maybe he forgot the poppy seed bagel eating contest he won the day before?

A backache? You don't go to the doc for a backache, you go to the store and buy some Alieve or Percogesic and rest. Maybe get a Thermapatch or get your SO to rub Ben-Gay on it. They accepted his word that it was a legal scrip and went about their business. If it had been a member of the public, they would have been all up in our business and forcing us to give the urine and blood while taking our stuff and not accepting our explanation for it.

I think codeine wouldn't do much for muscular pain anyway - but hey, let's supeona the doc and see if he actually did write a scrip!

/double standards suck
//LEO should be held to the highest possible level of conduct - because you don't respect someone who says 'do as I say, not as I do"
//lack of respect leads to contempt, contempt leads to hate, etc...

I say it is bullfark because I was terminated for taking Dorvocet for my arthritis, instead of the VICODIN prescribed to me for the simple reason the VICODIN farked me up too much to work safely.

Directorscut: I can understand how that happens.
I store unused pain pills(of the same type)away in a single pill bottle for future use myself, and usually just throw away the spare pill bottle.
And for Bast's sake, it's just Tylenol 3. That stuff is as weak as Lortabs.

I have a clearance. If I piss hot, and I don't have a script for what they detected, I'm toast. Clean out my drawer. End of story. (And there are some lovely federal felony-grade charges for illegal drug use while having a clearance... and while working as a peace officer come to think of it.)

This guy is the frigging chief of police. Taking medicine 8 years after the prescription expired is abusing narcotics by the letter of the law.

Not to be a douche, but having been on the receiving end of police douchiness, I'm not exactly shedding a tear that the letter of the law is coming down hard on the guy.

As it is, all he has to do is pee clean 6 times to clear his name. And go through the same theater that everyone else has to go through on candy-striper charges. I can see why they mayor would want to keep it quiet. This is downright embarrassing. But the threatening tone of the message was way over the line.

imanadikt: Earlier this month, Police Chief John Smith tested positive for codeine during a random drug screening of city employees. The chief said he took the last two pills of an 8-year-old Tylenol 3 prescription to alleviate a sore back a day before taking the random test Nov. 9.
*

Smith said he threw away the pill bottle and was unable to find a record of the prescription from a doctor's office or pharmacy.

On Nov. 19, Mayor Mike Dinwiddie responded to an e-mail about the incident from the city administrator with a stern warning for city employees with loose lips.

"It goes without saying that this should be kept highly confidential," Dinwiddie wrote. "Any city employee leaking this info publicly will be considered for immediate termination. IF the media does get wind of this, please forward their inquiries to me."

Bloggers count as a form of media right? Just helping out the mayor, he seems to have left out contact details.


Welcome to Fark! Enjoy your smackdown.

CrispFlows: I never understood the concept of zero tolerance - it just keeps reminding me of autoimmune disorders which behaves in a same way.

zero tolerance just relieves people from the hard and difficult responsibility of having to think for themselves and judge a situation in context.

Min5trel: #2. Worrying about it getting leaked and threatening everyone that knew about it with firing... yeah, there's something else at work there. Politicians/Managers that want to control the press usually have a quick comeuppance when their BS comes to print. Why people can't just let the press do their job (they're generally not that good at it) is beyond me. I guess it's nice to get your story straight in the first place, but seriously... all they had to say is "he popped positive and he is going through an evaluation to determine whether it is abuse and to help him if it is." After that, "no comment" them until he finishes the course, and if someone is still hounding you at the end of the evaluation... put out a statement that he finished treatment successfully. Done.

Yeah, "don't you dare leak this" is pretty much a request to spread the story far and wide.

One Thirty-two and Bush: Welcome to Fark! Enjoy your smackdown.

...no matter how easily obtained.

bravian: CrispFlows: I never understood the concept of zero tolerance - it just keeps reminding me of autoimmune disorders which behaves in a same way.

zero tolerance just relieves people from the hard and difficult responsibility of having to think for themselves and judge a situation in context.

War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength.

I have to say that I agree with the mayor. Society is so quick to cast a bad light on silly situations that this should not be made public. There is no reason to think the police chief didn't have a bad back and there should be nothing wrong with taking a couple T3s.

The attention this is receiving right now over something minor like this just proves the mayor was right in his actions.

40below: I appreciate the irony, but Tylenol 3s? That's like St. John's children's aspirin.

Honestly.

mrEdude: This is hilarious because in Canada you can buy it without a prescription, it's just not that big a deal.

To be honest though, I don't think anybody should be given a hard time for having ANY drug in their body so long as they're doing their job well and not breaking any REAL laws.

Tylenol 1, NOT 3, unless there's some change and/or it's behind the counter and not on the shelf.

The amounts of codeine in both make a significant difference, although it was still worth a trip to Canada to get a decent sized bottle of generic Tylenol 1 when I was trying to manage my pain.

Back pain from all the time the chief and mayor spend in bed together?

Dude fark off... I gotta sperscription or whatever.. eheheheh oink...

w_houle: Maybe he forgot the poppy seed bagel eating contest he won the day before?

No longer valid, they increased the cutoff on the test to allow for it.

Maybe if it was a poppyseed poppyseed eating contest.

buckler Quote 2009-11-29 12:50:49 PM
One Thirty-two and Bush: Welcome to Fark! Enjoy your smackdown.

...no matter how easily obtained.

If I've done something wrong then mods can by all means take it down.

He did say for all questions to be directed to him but must have forgotten contact details somehow. Where should we contact him with our questions and when?

He's a very public figure with a public listing asking for questions to be directed to him. No private details were included.

Again, if anything was wrong I'm sorry but what exactly was wrong?

TFA: Because of the violation, the chief will be required to attend an evaluation session with a drug counselor. He must also take six more drug tests as outlined in the town's substance abuse policy.

City administrator Lay said the chief was not given any special treatment and was treated the same as any other employee would be.

If that's true, and the police chief did get the same treatment any city employee got, then it should have been kept private.

In general, there's nothing wrong with government officials sending out e-mails saying "we'll fire you if you leak things to the press." That's normal good business practice.

JonnyG: I have to say that I agree with the mayor. Society is so quick to cast a bad light on silly situations that this should not be made public. There is no reason to think the police chief didn't have a bad back and there should be nothing wrong with taking a couple T3s.

The attention this is receiving right now over something minor like this just proves the mayor was right in his actions.

Let me repeat this again:

Codeine, morphine and heroin all metabolize to morphine-3-glucuronide, which is what the test detects. If he cant come up with a script, it is darned unlikely to be codeine.

The pharmacy records are required by laws stronger than the one he is in trouble with to go back for years, even if the doctors dont (which they do.)

So are emails newsworthy this week or not? I can't keep up.

I LOVE the Streisand Effect. It's a thing of such perfect beauty.

Too bad this incident won't make anybody rethink the drug war.

Nuuu: TFA:

If that's true, and the police chief did get the same treatment any city employee got, then it should have been kept private.

In general, there's nothing wrong with government officials sending out e-mails saying "we'll fire you if you leak things to the press." That's normal good business practice.

There are laws about requiring employees to ignore illegal activity though. If there are specific testing protocols to be followed, and they are being selectively adhered to, that is of interest to the legal folks and the public.

imanadikt: Again, if anything was wrong I'm sorry but what exactly was wrong?

You're not supposed to list contact information regardless of how easily obtainable it is. Why, I don't know. It didn't always used to be this way, but alas...

There is a small loophole, supposedly: You can tell others how to obtain said contact information. Something along the lines of "Google , third link," but you can't link to the page or cite the information on the page or even say what is on the page, albeit clues work. Example:

"FTA: 'It goes without saying that this should be kept highly confidential," Dinwiddie wrote. "Any city employee leaking this info publicly will be considered for immediate termination. IF the media does get wind of this, please forward their inquiries to me.'

Google Dinwiddle, fifth link

(Note that it is false, as it's an example)

They may have changed it since then to include that as well, but last I checked it works.

imanadikt: buckler Quote 2009-11-29 12:50:49 PM
One Thirty-two and Bush: Welcome to Fark! Enjoy your smackdown.

...no matter how easily obtained.

If I've done something wrong then mods can by all means take it down.

He did say for all questions to be directed to him but must have forgotten contact details somehow. Where should we contact him with our questions and when?

He's a very public figure with a public listing asking for questions to be directed to him. No private details were included.

Again, if anything was wrong I'm sorry but what exactly was wrong?

It doesn't matter how much of a public figure someone is, what they did, or how much you hate it. According to FARK rules, you can't post any sort of contact information, no matter how easily obtained. If someone feels strongly enough to contact that person, they can find the details themselves. You'll probably get some slack from the mods this time, but be aware that you might get a bit of a time-out if you do it again.

SomGuye: Sweet delicious double standard.



This is why American standards suck balls.

SomGuye: Sweet delicious double standard.

Yummy, juicy American badge worship.

boobsrgood: SomGuye: Sweet delicious double standard.

Yummy, juicy American badge worship.

STERRRRRN?

Thanks for the tips. I would've liked to have seen earlier threads debating both sides of this. Still a little new and still a little confused but I'll try to be more careful next time, with loopholes that is.

and..

Police Chief should be fired.
Mayor should be fired.

All public officials and politicians should be drug and alcohol tested regularly with the results being publicly available. Any infractions should not be tolerated.

Alphakronik: SomGuye: Sweet delicious double standard.



This is why American standards suck balls.

You take that back!

Wow, subby actually used the term "narcotics" in the technically correct manner. Bravo, subby.

Morphine: narcotic
Codeine: narcotic
Aspirin: not narcotic
LSD: not narcotic
Oxycontin: narcotic
Marijuana: not narcotic

(Passing a law declaring the sky is green doesn't make it so. Nor does passing a law declaring a random substance to be "narcotic" overcome centuries of useage of a specific medical term)

Sounds like somebody has been helping himself to goodies from the evidence room.