| Abstrakt: |
This case study involves a woman who travelled to Mexico and returned to the United States transporting bottles of cuajo, a substance derived from a calf’s stomach, which is used to make cheese. She informed the border officer that the liquid in the bottle was used to make cheese and she had receipts in her possession for purchasing cuajo. A Safariland NarcoPouch field drug kit was used to test the liquid, which produces an expected color change to any substance that contains secondary amines, including methamphetamine and MDMA. A positive test result to the cuajo when tested at the Port of Entry was a major factor in deciding to arrest the woman, who was held in jail for more than six months; the results of gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer testing indicated that there was no controlled substance in the bottles and she was released. The human factors issues for this matter include adequacy of training, instructions and warnings which misled officers to believe that the test was conclusive for methamphetamine, resulting in her lengthy incarceration. |
