Daily Herald opinion: The importance of integrity: Drug testing questions put officials, labs — and justice system — under microscope
With questions about validity of evidence, Republican DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin acted with integrity and respect for the law last week in dismissing 19 cases against suspects accused in marijuana-related DUI cases.
But the story doesn’t end there. Not by a long shot.
For one thing, Berlin’s conscientious response to concerns about laboratory blood tests needs to be replicated in other counties, as state’s attorney’s offices in at least Kane and Cook counties have said they may do if they find similar problems with cases in their domains.
For another, the labs producing the questionable results need to be openly and urgently responding to the concerns and explaining to the public what they are doing to produce accurate results.
In a press release Friday, Berlin said he was notified last May that the lab director at the University of Illinois-Chicago was not entirely confident its tests were correctly identifying the amounts of illegal THC in suspects’ bloodstreams. The law limits the amount of a component of THC called delta-9, but another component called delta-8 is not regulated. The UIC tests — and at least one involving an Illinois State Police laboratory — may not have been properly separating the two, opening the reported levels of the illegal component to doubt and suspicion.
Don’t be misled, the delta-8 THC isomer is by no means universally regarded to be risk free. Indeed, it is the subject of serious concerns by health experts and some law enforcement authorities, who have been pushing for tighter regulation in Illinois and other states.
But for now, it is not regulated and therefore, commingling it with delta-9 in test results raises real doubts about whether suspects subjected to improper testing have indeed broken the law.
“With the validity of the test results called into question, I could not, legally, ethically and in good conscience, continue the prosecution of these select cases,” Berlin said in the release. “For our justice system to function properly, the integrity of prosecutions must remain, above all else, intact and beyond reproach.”
In that paragraph, Berlin has identified the real crux of the issue — integrity. His, certainly, but that of the system as well. That’s an especially important concern considering the many attacks the justice system has endured from both the right and the left in recent years.
A statement from UIC suggested that officials there, too, have integrity on their minds, though it didn’t have a lot to offer to inspire confidence.
“As this is an ongoing process, we are unable to provide additional details at this time. UIC remains committed to upholding the highest standards of laboratory research integrity and compliance and to ensuring the well-being of the communities we serve,” the statement read.
Assuming that is so, authorities — as well as the public — should not have to wait long to get those “additional details.”
According to Donald Ramsell, a prominent DUI defense attorney who spoke to our Susan Sarkauskas, a specific international standard exists to govern the THC testing. Agencies that are not following it — or that may have found deficiencies in their systems — should be called to account to explain why and when they again will deserve the public’s trust.