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A committee of Lowcountry lawyers is studying ways to better regulate court use of drug screeners, whose findings play a crucial role in child custody battles and other sensitive cases.
Stephen Dey, chairman of the Family Court liaison committee, said the absence of state oversight of the drug testing industry makes it difficult for lawyers and judges to know whose methods and credentials they should trust.
"You and I could join up for lunch, decide to be drug testers and by 4 o'clock we could be drug testers," he said. "There are just no qualifications for this. And that's insane when you look at the type of decisions that are made from the results of these tests."
The committee has appointed one panel to study drug testing methods, the reliability of results and qualifications for screeners, Dey said. A second panel is examining how other courts employ drug testing and what legislation is needed to set standards for the field. The groups expect to finish work by early next year, he said.
The move comes in the wake of a July 30 story in The Post and Courier detailing questions surrounding the credentials and practices of Robert Bennett, the primary drug screener for Charleston County's Family Court.
Despite billing himself as a forensic toxicologist, a medical review officer, a criminal forensics expert and an addictionologist with multiple medical degrees, the story reported that Bennett was not licensed or certified in any discipline for which he claimed expertise.
Some critics have also challenged his practice of testing for minuscule traces of drugs in his subjects. But with no state regulation, Bennett is essentially free to adopt whatever title or methods he chooses.
The issue has already caught the attention of senior lawmakers such as Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and State Rep. Chip Limehouse, who have said South Carolina needs to ensure the reliability of drug screeners.
In the meantime, the state Department of Social Service has stopped sending new cases to Bennett after several clients and their attorneys objected to him performing their drug tests. Other area drug testing firms are now handling those cases, Virginia Williamson, the agency's general counsel, said.
Williamson said she didn't know how many cases Bennett handled for DSS. But he was clearly among the top drug screeners for the agency in Charleston County. In the first five months of this year, he billed the agency for $37,623 in services - nearly four times as much as his closest competitor, she said.
South Carolina's Guardian ad Litem program, which provides community advocates to monitor child welfare cases in the courts, also stopped referring people to Bennett for testing, Charleston County coordinator Charlene Gadsden said.
Bennett, who holds a pharmacy degree and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences, insists his methods and credentials are not only valid, but superior to those of his competitors.
The agencies' decision to discontinue his services will be their "extreme loss" and "an extreme disservice to the children," he said. Other drug testing companies "simply do not go to the lengths I do to get results," he says.
Bennett agrees that state regulation of the industry is "critically needed."
Many companies employ screeners who lack any medical or scientific training. Others use inexpensive tests or less discerning screening levels that miss minute evidence of drug use, he says. "In my opinion, that defeats why you are even doing this to begin with."
Still, clients such as Bart Altman continue to question Bennett's methods and complain about the effect that he has had on their lives.
Altman, owner of Purple Music on James Island, went for drug testing in February 2003 as part of child custody proceedings with his former girlfriend, with whom he has a son.
Two drug testing firms declared him drug-free. But Bennett tested at lower levels and reported that Altman was positive for marijuana.
The court accepted Bennett's results and ordered Altman to submit to random drug testing until further notice.
Since that time, Altman, son of retiring State Rep. John Graham Altman, said he has spent about $9,000 undergoing hundreds of drug tests with Bennett. And month after month, he tests clean. Altman's ex-girlfriend argued in court papers that the threat of the tests may be keeping him off drugs.
The clean tests did enable Altman, in December 2004, to gain custody of his son, now 7 years old.
At the same time, the Family Court now considers him trustworthy enough to serve as a guardian in other legal cases where child welfare and custody is at stake.
But still the tests continue, with no end in sight.
"He rules over me," Altman said. "Robert Bennett has his own standards of positive and negative. And if he says you are positive you are in for a hell of a long ride."
Bennett said it is up to the court, not him, to determine how long Altman must continue being tested.
Robert Rosen, the lawyer for Altman's former girlfriend, said the court is simply trying to ensure the child's best interests, as it would in any other case.
Rosen said he has no complaints about Bennett, whom he described as a "thoroughly honorable" person.
Dey said he thinks that adopting standards and parameters for drug testing would eliminate some of the uncertainty and second-guessing surrounding such contentious cases.
"We are all vulnerable to the whims of this thing," he said. "We have to get some kind of standards. We have to know what we are doing."
Newshawk: User - 420 Magazine
Source: The Post and Courier
Pubdate: 19 November 2006
Author: Glenn Smith
Copyright: 2006 The Post and Courier
Contact: gsmith@postandcourier.com
Website: Article Here
Stephen Dey, chairman of the Family Court liaison committee, said the absence of state oversight of the drug testing industry makes it difficult for lawyers and judges to know whose methods and credentials they should trust.
"You and I could join up for lunch, decide to be drug testers and by 4 o'clock we could be drug testers," he said. "There are just no qualifications for this. And that's insane when you look at the type of decisions that are made from the results of these tests."
The committee has appointed one panel to study drug testing methods, the reliability of results and qualifications for screeners, Dey said. A second panel is examining how other courts employ drug testing and what legislation is needed to set standards for the field. The groups expect to finish work by early next year, he said.
The move comes in the wake of a July 30 story in The Post and Courier detailing questions surrounding the credentials and practices of Robert Bennett, the primary drug screener for Charleston County's Family Court.
Despite billing himself as a forensic toxicologist, a medical review officer, a criminal forensics expert and an addictionologist with multiple medical degrees, the story reported that Bennett was not licensed or certified in any discipline for which he claimed expertise.
Some critics have also challenged his practice of testing for minuscule traces of drugs in his subjects. But with no state regulation, Bennett is essentially free to adopt whatever title or methods he chooses.
The issue has already caught the attention of senior lawmakers such as Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and State Rep. Chip Limehouse, who have said South Carolina needs to ensure the reliability of drug screeners.
In the meantime, the state Department of Social Service has stopped sending new cases to Bennett after several clients and their attorneys objected to him performing their drug tests. Other area drug testing firms are now handling those cases, Virginia Williamson, the agency's general counsel, said.
Williamson said she didn't know how many cases Bennett handled for DSS. But he was clearly among the top drug screeners for the agency in Charleston County. In the first five months of this year, he billed the agency for $37,623 in services - nearly four times as much as his closest competitor, she said.
South Carolina's Guardian ad Litem program, which provides community advocates to monitor child welfare cases in the courts, also stopped referring people to Bennett for testing, Charleston County coordinator Charlene Gadsden said.
Bennett, who holds a pharmacy degree and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences, insists his methods and credentials are not only valid, but superior to those of his competitors.
The agencies' decision to discontinue his services will be their "extreme loss" and "an extreme disservice to the children," he said. Other drug testing companies "simply do not go to the lengths I do to get results," he says.
Bennett agrees that state regulation of the industry is "critically needed."
Many companies employ screeners who lack any medical or scientific training. Others use inexpensive tests or less discerning screening levels that miss minute evidence of drug use, he says. "In my opinion, that defeats why you are even doing this to begin with."
Still, clients such as Bart Altman continue to question Bennett's methods and complain about the effect that he has had on their lives.
Altman, owner of Purple Music on James Island, went for drug testing in February 2003 as part of child custody proceedings with his former girlfriend, with whom he has a son.
Two drug testing firms declared him drug-free. But Bennett tested at lower levels and reported that Altman was positive for marijuana.
The court accepted Bennett's results and ordered Altman to submit to random drug testing until further notice.
Since that time, Altman, son of retiring State Rep. John Graham Altman, said he has spent about $9,000 undergoing hundreds of drug tests with Bennett. And month after month, he tests clean. Altman's ex-girlfriend argued in court papers that the threat of the tests may be keeping him off drugs.
The clean tests did enable Altman, in December 2004, to gain custody of his son, now 7 years old.
At the same time, the Family Court now considers him trustworthy enough to serve as a guardian in other legal cases where child welfare and custody is at stake.
But still the tests continue, with no end in sight.
"He rules over me," Altman said. "Robert Bennett has his own standards of positive and negative. And if he says you are positive you are in for a hell of a long ride."
Bennett said it is up to the court, not him, to determine how long Altman must continue being tested.
Robert Rosen, the lawyer for Altman's former girlfriend, said the court is simply trying to ensure the child's best interests, as it would in any other case.
Rosen said he has no complaints about Bennett, whom he described as a "thoroughly honorable" person.
Dey said he thinks that adopting standards and parameters for drug testing would eliminate some of the uncertainty and second-guessing surrounding such contentious cases.
"We are all vulnerable to the whims of this thing," he said. "We have to get some kind of standards. We have to know what we are doing."
Newshawk: User - 420 Magazine
Source: The Post and Courier
Pubdate: 19 November 2006
Author: Glenn Smith
Copyright: 2006 The Post and Courier
Contact: gsmith@postandcourier.com
Website: Article Here
