DENVER—Colorado defense attorneys are concerned because private labs are taking over blood-alcohol tests and blood-drug samples normally sent to a state lab, and only three of the six qualified labs are certified to begin processing blood-drug specimens, a restriction that could delay a number of criminal cases.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment suspended state tests on June 28 after defense attorneys exposed an internal report by the health and environment department they say revealed potentially tainted lab results.
All blood-alcohol and blood-drug samples normally sent to the state lab are being redirected, beginning Monday, to one of six certified, private labs across the state.
“(Any) Backlog is going to continue to be a problem for private laboratories. The increase is going to be a big deal, and the fact that the state lab is no longer available as a choice is going to increase the problem,” defense attorney Abraham Hutt told the Denver Post ().
During the suspension, which could last up to nine weeks, 800 blood-alcohol and blood-drug samples will be retested by an independent lab to verify the state toxicology lab’s results.
About 225 law enforcement agencies send their blood samples to the state lab, including samples collected from drivers suspected of driving while under the influence of marijuana.
Blood samples have been collected from drivers suspected of driving while under the influence of drugs since 2007, said Sgt. Mike Baker, spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol.
Under a law that took effect May 28, those samples may be used to show if a driver using pot was too high to drive because their blood sample tested above the new stoned-driving limit.
Robert Lantz, director of Rocky Mountain Instrumental Laboratories in Fort Collins, said he has received inquiries from several law enforcement agencies searching for a lab to send samples.
Lantz said he has no idea how it will be handled.
The private lab, which is certified to process blood-drug specimens, tests about 3,000 to 4,000 samples a year. Most of those samples are blood-alcohol samples, which take about a week to process.
But blood-drug specimens may take up to two weeks to complete. Samples that contain less common drugs may take longer to test, Lantz said. For example, tests containing THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, are easier to complete than samples containing prescription or other types of drugs.
Concerns about the lab stem from a March report by an employee consulting firm that said some workers of the lab at the health department complained that a supervisor made statements suggesting a bias in favor of prosecutors. The report also said refrigerators containing blood samples were unlocked.
The supervisor in question was reassigned and later retired.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
