False positive for meth: A Minnesota drug defense lawyer explains what you need to know about meth charges

January 22, 2025
Subzero Criminal Defense

Methamphetamine or meth charges in Minnesota can range from 5th degree controlled substance possession all the way up to 1st degree controlled substance sales. If you are being charged and know that you haven’t taken meth recently you may be scratching your head. How did a drug test come back positive? One of the reasons it may be positive is because of a false positive.

An erroneous result may occur from a false positive

Despite the way some prosecutors and police act about forensic tests, no test is perfect. There are always chances of errors. With tests for controlled substances there are errors for false positives. A false positive means that you tested positive for a substance even though you did not have the substance in your system. This happen because the chemical compounds in certain substances are so similar to other items that the test can trigger a positive even though you don’t have the controlled substance in question in your system.

Trazadone is a common false positive for methamphetamine

There are a number of medications that test positive for methamphetamines. Many of the medications are rare. But one of the most common medications that a fair amount of people take which can test positive for methamphetamine is trazadone. Trazadone is a medication that doctors may prescribe for depression or insomnia. In 2022, 27 million people in the United States were prescribed trazadone. The problem is that if you have trazadone in your system, drug tests are susceptible to  showing a false positive for methamphetamine. But just because you were taking trazadone, doesn’t exonerate you of meth charges. Prosecutors frequently dig in their heals and fight the case even if there is a false positive argument. If this happens to you, you want to make sure you contact a skilled criminal defense attorney.

False positive defense

If you believe there was a false positive in your case, you want to make sure you hire a lawyer that knowledgeable and experienced on defending drug crimes. There are over 6,000 lawyers in the state of Minnesota. But not every lawyer will be skilled at defending a drug charge. Peter Lindstrom, Esq. was trained at the nation’s best seminar on defending drug crimes. He has strategies and knowledge about litigating drug crimes issues that other lawyers do not have. Contact Subzero Criminal Defense for a free consultation. 651-248-5142