Cat urine mimics meth?

From the Week magazine’s daily website.

When I first read this account, I was mildly upset at another strong arm action by cops.

Bad week for: Rushing to judgment, after a Florida woman was jailed for 50 days when police found a vial of a yellow substance in her purse. Cynthia Hunter, 38, insisted the vial contained dried cat urine purchased for her son’s science experiment, but cops didn’t buy it. A full lab test this week revealed that the vial contained . . . dried cat urine.

But then I read this account that fills in some of the detail.

Hunter, 38, of Lithia was arrested Aug. 15 for petty theft and possession of a controlled substance. The theft charge came after she was accused of stealing from a Brandon Wal-Mart store.

Hunter told a deputy the dehydrated cat urine was for her son’s science project, according to a court transcript. The deputy, though, did a field test for drugs and the substance came back positive for methamphetamine, according to court records.

The prosecutor said that there are a variety of chemical compounds in methamphetamine and doesn’t know how the presumptive test was positive. [Emphases mine]

So they thought it was drugs. And who believes someone you think is an addict. And a thief. But still,

“I still sat in jail … on an assumption,” Hunter said in court. “And I mean that’s not fair either.”

She’s got a point.

Filed under: Crime , cat urine, drug test, methamphetamine