BILL TO BAN DRUG 'FLUSH' KITS CLEARS FIRST HURDLE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE TO GET MEASURE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A bill sponsored by a local state representative to ban the marketing, manufacturing or sale of drug-masking or ``flush'' kits in California took one step forward to becoming law, officials announced Tuesday.

The Public Safety Committee passed the proposal sponsored by Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, to make products intended to create false negatives on drug tests illegal.

Runner believes the bill - Assembly Bill 154 - would make it harder for people to find these products that are sold for the purpose of creating false positives in drug testing, and will protect the quality of the testing.

``It just makes sense,'' he said. ``We'll probably appropriate millions of dollars for drug testing this year, but there are these drug-masking devices to cheat the tests.''

Currently, many businesses require job applicants to be tested for drugs. In 1987, SmithKline Beecham, a national testing laboratory, found that 18 percent of workers tested had positive results. By 1997, the figure was down to 5.4 percent.

Health food stores and head shops carry products like carbohydrate drinks, detoxifying teas, shampoos and synthetic urine that promote a guarantee that drug tests for marijuana's active agent, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, and other illicit drugs like methamphetamines and opiates will return negative.

Lisa Williams, a Santa Clarita mother who brought the issue to Runner's attention last year after discovering the products in a vitamin store, said she was thrilled the bill had passed.

``This sends a message, especially to children,'' Williams said. ``It's hypocrisy to do something illegal and be able to buy something legally that would allow you to mask the illegal thing you did.''

The bill will go to the Appropriations Committee in the next couple of weeks where members will decide whether the cost of implementing the bill would exceed $150,000. Since the bill proposes to make selling the products illegal, the committee must predict how much it would cost to enforce the law.

If the committee decides it's cost-efficient, the bill will go to the floor of the Assembly and then to the Senate.

The American Civil Liberties Union and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice are opposed to the bill because it limits the manufacturers' free speech.