PHILADELPHIA - When college freshman Janet Lee packed her bags for a Christmas trip home two years ago, her luggage contained three condoms filled with flour — devices that she and some friends made as a joke. ADVERTISEMENT Philadelphia International Airport screeners found the condoms, and their initial tests showed they contained drugs. The Bryn Mawr College student was arrested on drug trafficking charges and jailed. Three weeks later, she was released after a lab test backed her story, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday. Lee filed a federal lawsuit last week against city police, seeking damages for pain and suffering, financial loss, and emotional distress. She was arrested on Dec. 21, 2003, and was held on $500,000 bail and faced up to 20 years in prison had she been convicted of the drug charges. Airport screeners found the condoms filled with white powder in Lee's checked luggage shortly before she was to board a plane to Los Angeles to visit her family. She said she told city police they were filled with flour. She said she made them as a joke and would squeeze them to relieve stress. Police told her a field test showed that the powder contained opium and cocaine, according to the Inquirer. A lab test later proved the substance was flour — and prosecutors dropped the charges, the newspaper reported. Gee, you figure the tests were fixed/didn't exist? Hell, just by LOOKING at flour, I (a completely un-trained civilian) can tell it apart from opium/cocaine. It helps that I've handled both, but thats besides the point. Protecting the public is an important job!
Even so, you're a complete tool who deserves arrest and hours of police interrogation if you do something as stupid as to carry something which looks like drugs in your luggage. Same goes for people who say "Yes, I'm carrying a bomb".
I disagree. What about REAL stressballs, which have flour in them, no difference to a homemade one if you ask me. Same goes for mousepads with flour supports and various other things. It's the officials who should be punished for faking/lying about test results. Lee has the right to sue the officials, and may he win.
No, you just dont take something like that on a flight or you decliare it at checkin. It's the field test person who should be repremanded because how the hell did it contain opium and cocaine?? WTF? Malf - it doesnt matter if you can tell the difference, if she was trafficing 10g of coke in 1kg of flour that's still trafficing.
3 week ouch. Rather than her suing the city, the city should be charging her for the cost of the lab tests.
I'm completely unfamiliar with condoms...could it be possible some type of chemical residue could have given a false reading? I'd assume they'd cut them open, too. I think I know. The federal employees were mad that the 'drugs' were fake and they had to pay on the way home from work.
True, real stressballs may have flour (though I think it's actually some other substance). Homemade stressballs may have flour. But how many people do you know make homemade stressballs out of condoms? I woould think if someone is going to make a stressball, they would use balloons. If - and that's a big "if" - she really did make them for stress relief, why did she need 3 of them in her suitcase? Is she under that much stress that she needs one for each hand and a spare to work out the kinks in her toes? I'm more inclined to think that she was either trying to pull one over on airport security or was out for money from the beginning. Really, 3 condoms full of white powder is going to raise eyebrows. It doesn't matter if the substance is obviously flour, cocaine, or otherwise. -monkey
Yes that's true and I say that because I've been through a court case myself and witnessed lies being said left right centre and everywhere basically we won the case and proved the police were not doing their job properly as with most cases. I think this woman did the right thing, there is no list that says Condoms with filled white substances are prohibited anyway. I once was stopped at Heathrow airport when I was about 11 years old because I had a plastic keychain about half the size of a 1P coin (i'm guessing...) and they called like 4 security personnel to screen it and basically "clear" me.
They probably weren't lying or faking the results, just performing the test incorrectly. There was an article in New Scientist recently about these drug tests. Apparently they fail if too much of the suspect material is added to the test, in this case it always comes up positive. Apparently it is a well known problem and new tests are being developed.
i think it would have been nice if they were able to tell it was flour before 3 weeks, but i suppose they had other tests for other people to run first. although 3 weeks is quite a long time. i think all the police just got abit excited at the chance to catch this drug user then get the name of a dealer from her (we've all seen miami vice )
But there's two issues here, the obviously dodgy test results and the fact that she did something stupid enough to get turned over by the authorities anyway. I agree if the results were falsified, or simply incorrect then she has a right to persue that further. However in this day and age where it's all over the news that pushing your luck with airport security is a really daft thing to do, people who knowingly do things which are likely to put themselves in a risky situation deserve everything they get. There's no law that says I can't carry Silly Putty, various coloured wires and a Wristwatch in a small lunch-box, however when I'm being leapt on by security staff at Heathrow, you can't say I didn't have it coming.
I can't decide whether this is sad or funny. But surely they'd have been able to open them and tell by smell that it wasn't drugs contained within (though never having smelled cocaine, I have no idea how it smells, especially compared to flour). Of course, she could have just killed the guard and been locked up with half the potential sentence time and bail price Yes.. I think that system's a bit strange. Toes? You really think so? They were made out of condoms, after all Use your imagination... this is a "family-safe" forum after all
She's student, it was probably a drunken dare that went wrong so she made up an elaborate cover story to try and get out of it. Either way the police did lie which made the opening for the ability to sue despite her really being in the wrong. If the police/marshalls whatever.. hadnt ****ed her about and gone by the book she would've spent a few days in jail for being a fool, and nothing more. <edit>She's an idiot, but i hope she gets that money might make some cops stop thinking they are above the law i hate being stopped on any flight JUST because i'm 16-30 and male, and i do get stopped EVERY flight, and i fly roughly 10-12 times a year. This has only happened since 9/11.</edit>
I love Google http://www.wkuherald.com/media/pape...html?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.wkuherald.com Balloons, flour, and water - standard recipe for stress balls. Condoms would be much easier to fill, and a little bit funny for a college student. I think she probably did NOTHING wrong here.
So let me get this straight. The "standard recipe" for a stressball is: balloons, flour and water. The girl in question left out the water, substituted a condom for the balloon, and packed 3 of them in the suitcase. And she's surprised at the outcome? Honestly, 3 condoms full of white powder (dry white powder) just looks way too suspicious. At least she didn't try to swallow them. I think .308AR raised a good question. If the condoms had any lubrication, stimulant, or other chemical, could the chemical have given a false reading? Like I said, toes. Though it begs the question, are ribbed stressballs more effective than regular? Is a lubricated stressball easier to work in the hands? Oh my, it just got warm in here. I'll head out now. -monkey
Finally found that article on failing drug tests in new scientist. Looks like i was wrong about too much material always giving a positive result, it gives always negative . But one quote stands out in particular: I’m sure that condoms contain powdered milk Well done .308AR according to this you got it right.
