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Anti Federalist
07-28-2011, 01:43 PM
God bless those boys in blue. :rolleyes:

Result: another fully awake citizen or fully compliant Mundane.


Grandmother jailed after oil mistaken for heroin

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/07/26/mb-heroine-oil-senior-border-manitoba.html

CBC News Posted: Jul 26, 2011 12:17 PM CT
Last Updated: Jul 26, 2011 9:54 PM CT

A Minnesota senior was jailed by Canadian border guards at a Manitoba port of entry after a jar containing some motor oil was mistaken for heroin.

Janet Goodin, 66, a retired girl scout registrar and grandmother of 12, was on her way to Sprague, Man., from her home in Warroad, Minn., in April when she was questioned at the border, she told CBC News on Tuesday.

Janet Goodin was mistakenly accused of smuggling heroin into Canada when a jar of used motor oil tested a false positive for the drug. (CBC)

The guards, with the Canada Border Services Agency, then searched her minivan and found a canning jar containing a dark liquid.

A cursory test of the liquid convinced guards it was the illicit drug and Goodin, who was heading to Canada to play bingo and visit her daughters, instead found herself heading to jail.

She was handcuffed, arrested and charged with possession of a drug for the purpose of trafficking as well as importing a controlled substance.

"I couldn't even think, I was so astounded," Goodin said.

'The inmates were all very good to me. I wasn't afraid of them at all'

I said, 'That's not even possible.' I said, 'I'm sure it's oil that was put in there that was left over or something.' And they said, 'No, it tests positive for traces of something.'"

She had no money for bail and spent 12 days locked up at the Winnipeg Remand Centre before further testing proved the liquid was not heroin after all.

"The inmates were all very good to me. I wasn't afraid of them at all," Goodin said.

"But being locked up and [to] not know if I would ever get out in my lifetime, it was just … it was so scary."

Goodin hasn't been given an explanation from Canadian officials about what happened, or been offered an apology. She would like both and has retained a lawyer to look into filing a lawsuit.

More lab testing should have been performed prior to charging and detaining Goodin, said Scott Newman, a lawyer who represented her at the time of her incarceration.

"They should have waited until further lab tests had indicated whether or not there was in fact heroin in the motor oil," Newman said. "The other difficulty is a test like that only indicates the presence or absence of something; it doesn't say how much."

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he would be receiving a report from the Canada Border Services Agency on the case, but would not comment on "operational matters."

"Obviously, in that particular case, the officers had some indication that there was an illicit product and that individual had to be detained," he said.

But the minister said he would not comment on the merits of the arrest until after he has viewed the border agency's report.

fisharmor
07-28-2011, 01:51 PM
File under "cops are obviously rocket surgeons".

libertyjam
07-28-2011, 01:59 PM
AF - you forgot the link,
2. your being slow on the uptake, this and several others have been posted yesterday you haven't commented on.

3. at the link, which I will have to look up, half the Canadian comments are just incredible, they like their War on (Some) Drugs, and having their grandmother's humiliated and fully strip searched and locked up with no due process for 2 weeks for absolutely no reason. Nice little Canadian serfs and subjects that they are. Absolutely disgusting.

edit: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/07/26/mb-heroine-oil-senior-border-manitoba.html
Here is the story posted yesterday on here somewhere.

amy31416
07-28-2011, 02:09 PM
God bless those boys in blue. :rolleyes:

Result: another fully awake citizen or fully compliant Mundane.


Grandmother jailed after oil mistaken for heroin

CBC News Posted: Jul 26, 2011 12:17 PM CT
Last Updated: Jul 26, 2011 9:54 PM CT

A Minnesota senior was jailed by Canadian border guards at a Manitoba port of entry after a jar containing some motor oil was mistaken for heroin.

Janet Goodin, 66, a retired girl scout registrar and grandmother of 12, was on her way to Sprague, Man., from her home in Warroad, Minn., in April when she was questioned at the border, she told CBC News on Tuesday.

Janet Goodin was mistakenly accused of smuggling heroin into Canada when a jar of used motor oil tested a false positive for the drug. (CBC)

The guards, with the Canada Border Services Agency, then searched her minivan and found a canning jar containing a dark liquid.

A cursory test of the liquid convinced guards it was the illicit drug and Goodin, who was heading to Canada to play bingo and visit her daughters, instead found herself heading to jail.

She was handcuffed, arrested and charged with possession of a drug for the purpose of trafficking as well as importing a controlled substance.

"I couldn't even think, I was so astounded," Goodin said.

'The inmates were all very good to me. I wasn't afraid of them at all'

I said, 'That's not even possible.' I said, 'I'm sure it's oil that was put in there that was left over or something.' And they said, 'No, it tests positive for traces of something.'"

She had no money for bail and spent 12 days locked up at the Winnipeg Remand Centre before further testing proved the liquid was not heroin after all.

"The inmates were all very good to me. I wasn't afraid of them at all," Goodin said.

"But being locked up and [to] not know if I would ever get out in my lifetime, it was just … it was so scary."

Goodin hasn't been given an explanation from Canadian officials about what happened, or been offered an apology. She would like both and has retained a lawyer to look into filing a lawsuit.

More lab testing should have been performed prior to charging and detaining Goodin, said Scott Newman, a lawyer who represented her at the time of her incarceration.

"They should have waited until further lab tests had indicated whether or not there was in fact heroin in the motor oil," Newman said. "The other difficulty is a test like that only indicates the presence or absence of something; it doesn't say how much."

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he would be receiving a report from the Canada Border Services Agency on the case, but would not comment on "operational matters."

"Obviously, in that particular case, the officers had some indication that there was an illicit product and that individual had to be detained," he said.

But the minister said he would not comment on the merits of the arrest until after he has viewed the border agency's report.

That's some pretty astoundingly shoddy analytical chemistry work right there.

youngbuck
07-28-2011, 02:21 PM
That's some pretty astoundingly shoddy analytical chemistry work right there. It's not like they are expected to, or do, give a shit. I agree with fisharmor, cops are obviously rocket surgeons.

amy31416
07-28-2011, 02:32 PM
It's not like they are expected to, or do, give a shit. I agree with fisharmor, cops are obviously rocket surgeons.

Yeah but it wasn't the cops doing the analysis, I hope.

Heroin:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Heroin_-_Heroine.svg/220px-Heroin_-_Heroine.svg.png

Motor oil doesn't have a molecule even remotely like that, as far as I know. And the physical properties should be remarkably different, meaning you could do a really simple chemical test and figure out that it's motor oil, not heroin. And those who work in this type of analytical laboratory should have plenty of experience analyzing the properties of various drugs, especially street drugs.

Of course, the cops deserve some of the blame for not using common sense that it is incredibly unlikely that a 66 year-old woman is a heroin trafficker.

Anti Federalist
07-28-2011, 03:18 PM
AF - you forgot the link,
2. your being slow on the uptake, this and several others have been posted yesterday you haven't commented on.

3. at the link, which I will have to look up, half the Canadian comments are just incredible, they like their War on (Some) Drugs, and having their grandmother's humiliated and fully strip searched and locked up with no due process for 2 weeks for absolutely no reason. Nice little Canadian serfs and subjects that they are. Absolutely disgusting.

edit: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/07/26/mb-heroine-oil-senior-border-manitoba.html
Here is the story posted yesterday on here somewhere.

I hang my head in forum shame.

That's what I get for multitasking 20 odd projects today along with this.

Fixed and thanks for the heads up.

libertyjam
07-28-2011, 03:36 PM
Yeah but it wasn't the cops doing the analysis, I hope.

Heroin:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Heroin_-_Heroine.svg/220px-Heroin_-_Heroine.svg.png

Motor oil doesn't have a molecule even remotely like that, as far as I know. And the physical properties should be remarkably different, meaning you could do a really simple chemical test and figure out that it's motor oil, not heroin. And those who work in this type of analytical laboratory should have plenty of experience analyzing the properties of various drugs, especially street drugs.

Of course, the cops deserve some of the blame for not using common sense that it is incredibly unlikely that a 66 year-old woman is a heroin trafficker.

The cops just have a wipe and add solution then look at the color type of test. For most of them even this is intellectually challenging. To them if it changes color at all you must be automatically guilty of having whatever substance their pea-brain thinks they are testing for and a dangerous felon that deserves to be shot on the spot if you show any hint of provocation ... or they feel like it.

The laboratory test was what took 2 weeks for them to get around to doing or figuring out and the reason the GM was in jail for that time because she could not afford bond.

Having studied a little about motor-oil I know there are some newer organic dispersants and detergents being used that are replacing the polar metallic group based ones that may be more similar to the one depicted above that may have a higher chance of reacting with the reagents used in a quickee drug swipe type of test.

AFPVet
07-28-2011, 03:45 PM
I think all of the drugs a lot of the cops are doing now are making them see things that aren't there :(

pcosmar
07-28-2011, 03:55 PM
That's some pretty astoundingly shoddy analytical chemistry work right there.

Yup.
And I appreciate your expertise and chemical analysis (posted in this thread)

I know what motor oil smells like, Both new and used.
I know what opium smells like, and am pretty sure I could recognize it even in motor oil (in any substantial quantity).

This literally doesn't pass a smell test.

amy31416
07-28-2011, 04:17 PM
The cops just have a wipe and add solution then look at the color type of test. For most of them even this is intellectually challenging. To them if it changes color at all you must be automatically guilty of having whatever substance their pea-brain thinks they are testing for and a dangerous felon that deserves to be shot on the spot if you show any hint of provocation ... or they feel like it.

The laboratory test was what took 2 weeks for them to get around to doing or figuring out and the reason the GM was in jail for that time because she could not afford bond.

Having studied a little about motor-oil I know there are some newer organic dispersants and detergents being used that are replacing the polar metallic group based ones that may be more similar to the one depicted above that may have a higher chance of reacting with the reagents used in a quickee drug swipe type of test.

Ahh thanks. I had no idea they had such crappy tests and actually jail people based on them.


Yup.
And I appreciate your expertise and chemical analysis (posted in this thread)

I know what motor oil smells like, Both new and used.
I know what opium smells like, and am pretty sure I could recognize it even in motor oil (in any substantial quantity).

This literally doesn't pass a smell test.

I'm not sure what opium/heroin smells like, but I sure as hell know what motor oil (used and unused) smells like. And I doubt it smells much like heroin/opium. And when it comes to jailing someone based on some crappy "wipe" test, they should be forced to produce results from more reliable analytical testing, not in two weeks--but the same damn day. That is false imprisonment. I hope she sues.

Not to mention that I find the whole drug war to be complete bullshit.

kah13176
07-28-2011, 04:22 PM
Heroin is water-soluble. It won't dissolve in oils. If you could tell what was in the jar was mostly oil, well, then it's impossible for it to contain heroin.