Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,misc.legal,alt.conspiracy
From: [t h f 2] at [kimbark.uchicago.edu] (Ted Frank)
Subject: Cocaine-Tainted Dollar Bills
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1993 20:42:35 GMT

From the August 1993 ABA Journal:

"The mere presence of trace amounts of cocaine on a common object ...
 is insufficient to support a felony conviction of cocaine."  Lord v.
 Florida, 91-2147.

"[T]he evidence of the narcotic-trained dog's alert to [tainted] currency
 is of extremely little probative weight. . . .  It cannot be doubted that
 contaminated currency is widespread.  The presence of trace narcotics on
 currency does not yield any relevant information whatsoever about the
 currency's history."  US District Court Judge Thomas Wiseman of Nashville, 
 Jones v. DEA, No. 3:91-0520 (April 21, 1993).

"The probability that every single person in the United States is
 carrying drug-tainted money is almost certain."  -- Dr. James Woodford,
 forensic chemist in Atlanta.  Woodford cites a 1989 experiment by Miami
 toxicologist Dr. William Hearn, who gathered 135 dollar bills from banks
 in twelve cities.  131 had traces of cocaine.

It also cites a 1985 study by the Miami Herald, which asked eleven prominent
local citizens to supply a $20 bill for testing, including the Catholic
archbishop, George Bush's son Jeb, and Janet Reno.  Ten out of the eleven
bills had traces of cocaine.

Finally, there's a reference to an until-now secret 1987 DEA study showing 
that 1/3 of the money at the Federal Reserve Building in Chicago was 
tainted with cocaine.  It's thought that cocaine is transferred from some
bills to agencies' high-speed sorting equipment, which then "distributes"
the cocaine to the rest of the nation's currency.

It is suggested that the presence of cocaine throughout the nation's money
supply will (or, at least, *should*) prevent the use of drug-sniffing dogs.  

Ted "but now we know why the cops arrest folks with large sums of cash" Frank
-- 
ted frank                 |  "We're not in the business of putting cock
[t h f 2] at [kimbark.uchicago.edu] |   rings into the hands of little girls."
the u of c law school     |          -- Lisa McKendell, manager of marketing 
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