Tested positive on a military urinalysis? Seven questions to answer before you decide anything

Most service members who test positive learn about it from a single page the command received from the lab. Most are then told to decide what to do, accept nonjudicial punishment or turn it down, based on that page alone. In S3 E52 of the podcast, Jocelyn Stewart walks through what she needs to know before giving anyone advice. These are the seven questions, in her order.

First, say nothing. Don't offer an explanation to your command, your friends or anyone else. Get to the base legal office or the defense counsel's office, and let them ask the questions.

1. What did you test positive for? The specific drug and the metabolite. Nothing else can be investigated until you know this, because every drug has a different detection window.

2. When was the sample collected? Not the day you were told. The day you gave the sample. Everything is worked backward from that date, using the window for that drug. In the episode she gives working windows from her own practice, for example up to about 30 days for THC with occasional use, and two to five days for cocaine, which she stretches to seven.

3. How much was found, compared with the cutoff? Results are reported in nanograms per milliliter. A low level can matter: it can support an argument that the use was not knowing, especially where contamination or spiking is possible.

4. Whose sample was it? Does the bottle, its photograph, the specimen's appearance and the paperwork all point to you? A sample that looks nothing like what your body was doing that day is worth a second look.

5. How was it collected? Who observed, whether the seals and labels match, and whether the chain of custody form (DD Form 2624) accounts for every hand the sample passed through. In one of her cases, a person who handled the collection had a prior nonjudicial punishment for falsifying documents.

6. How was it tested? The full litigation packet, not the one-pager: the batch, the controls, the samples tested next to yours, any out-of-sequence errors, reruns, instrument records and examiner notes. A leaking bottle in the same shipping box can explain a low positive. You won't know until you see the lab notes.

7. What is left? How much of the specimen remains, and whether independent testing makes sense. That decision depends on the next point.

Don't lie to your lawyer. If you know how it got there, say so. A lawyer working from a false story walks into an ambush, and the science, including your earlier test results, often tells the real story anyway.

Ask for the packet early. Commands rarely request the litigation packet on their own. If you are refused, put your request in writing and keep it. If the case ends in a separation, that record matters later, when you ask a board to upgrade your discharge.

This post is general information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts.