Judge to rule on reliability of 'sweat patch'

The fate of a new drug analysis tool used by Las Vegas federal probation officers now rests with U.S. District Judge Philip Pro.

Pro heard expert testimony Friday on the reliability of the "sweat patch."

The patch, similar in appearance to nicotine patches worn by people trying to stop smoking, collects the components of sweat that do not evaporate and contain trace elements of consumed drugs.

The federal probation office in Las Vegas has been using the sweat patches on some probationers for the past two years. However, U.S. Public Defender Franny Forsman has questioned the reliability of the patches.

When one of her clients had his federal probation revoked because of a sweat patch result, Forsman appealed, stating that the sweat patch had not been studied enough. She lost, but convinced Pro to rehear the case after she discovered a recent test that showed the patch to be unreliable.

The hearing was held Friday, and while Pro has not yet made his decision, Forsman and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Sullivan expect Pro's decision will set a legal precedent.

According to court documents filed by Forsman, a U.S. Naval Research Laboratory study showed that the patch can give false positive results in certain circumstances.

On Friday Dr. Frederick Smith testified that the study found minute amounts of drugs placed on the outside of the patch while moisture is present can result in a positive result.

Dr. Edward Cone countered that the sweat patch only gives false positive results under extreme circumstances not likely to exist in real life, Sullivan said.

U.S. Probation officials have said that all of the studies they've seen show the sweat patch to be reliable.

In an August interview John Gonska, supervising U.S. Probation Officer in Nevada, said the patch will not replace other drug detecting methods, such as urine analysis. However, drug users haven't yet found ways to beat the patch and there are plenty of ways to get around urine analysis, such as flushing their systems with copious amounts of water and substituting someone else's urine.

"We're trying to get as many drug detection tools as possible so we can send a message to drug users that we can't be beat," Gonska said.

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