# Can undercover officers do drugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685 "2006-06-22T05:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/1 "2006-06-22T05:38:42Z")
Well, can they? Especially within a heavy undercover operation and have a joint or something passed to them, (or even cocaine) can they hit it? I would suspect to keep suspicions at a minumum and to prevent cover from being blown, they can. Sorry if this has already been asked, I checked the archive but couldn’t find anything. What are the details regarding this? Anyone know the exact laws? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/2 "2006-06-22T13:40:03Z")
Check out [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=285769&) on the same topic. Several posters have personal experience that confirms that some cops are allowed to take drugs as part of an undercover operation. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/3 "2006-06-22T14:17:38Z")
From what I understand they can in life threatening situations, but they have to report in that they have done so, and then go to a hospital for treatment. That’s how it was explained in the book I just finished called Under and Alone by a fed who infiltrated the Mongols motorcycle gang. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/4 "2006-06-22T18:11:52Z")
Sounds like a really bad idea in spite of whatever good can come from it. It would be terrible to get a good cop started on cocaine while working undercover against a dealer. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/5 "2006-06-22T18:33:30Z")
Yeah, but a lot of criminals have the false idea that if you’re an undercover cop you won’t do drugs. So they offer you drugs to prove you’re not a cop. Sort of like the false belief that undercover cops aren’t allowed to lie about whether they’re cops or not. Believe it or not, undercover cops are allowed to lie to the people they’re investigating. So asking a streewalker if she’s an undercover cop isn’t going to be much help in avoiding a prostitution sting. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/6 "2006-06-22T22:55:06Z")
From personal experience: yes, they can, and yes, they do. There are limits, but those limits are set by the unit commanders + a bit of common sense. ---
**Author:** ![Weezee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@Weezee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weezee)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/7 "2006-06-22T23:09:43Z")
I know they are just movies, but check out “Rush”, and “Narc”. Both are great movies…especially Narc and leads you into the life of an undercover drug agent. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/8 "2006-06-22T23:16:03Z")
Sometimes they have sex with prostitutes in order to gather evidence, too. But this is controversial. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021200943\_pf.html;](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021200943_pf.html;) [http://www.local6.com/news/7043931/detail.html](http://www.local6.com/news/7043931/detail.html) ---
**Author:** ![sabatobello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@sabatobello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sabatobello)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/9 "2006-06-22T23:19:15Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Sounds like a really bad idea in spite of whatever good can come from it. It would be terrible to get a good cop started on cocaine while working undercover against a dealer. Far, far preferable to being shot in the head by the guy who offered it to you. I expect there’s at least some support for narcs who’ve had to do drugs in the course of undercover work but genuinely don’t want to get hooked, if not from the department itself than from the doctors they’d be referred to or other groups. I’m sure seeing the effects of drugs at their worst would influence their determination to stay clean quite a bit as well. I imagine inevitably some could stumble, but in the long term, having to get clean is (usually) better than death. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/10 "2006-06-22T23:30:05Z")
Thing is, getting physically addicted to drugs isn’t that big a deal. What really keeps addicts going back is psychological addiction. A cop doing a small amount of cocaine to avoid arousing suspicions isn’t usually going to have the same psychological factors that lead to addiction. Most people prescribed opiates for pain don’t become addicted. They take the opiates until the prescription is finished, then they deal with the physical withdrawl symptoms, and move on. Only a small number of people remember that drug experience as so pleasant that they seek out more opiates. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/11 "2006-06-22T23:53:11Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > From what I understand they can in life threatening situations, but they have to report in that they have done so, and then go to a hospital for treatment. That’s how it was explained in the book I just finished called Under and Alone by a fed who infiltrated the Mongols motorcycle gang. Go to a hospital for treatment? What exactly would you treat? Highness? ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/12 "2006-06-23T00:18:29Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Go to a hospital for treatment? What exactly would you treat? Highness? Yes. I can’t seem to find the name of it, but a paramedic friend of mine likes to tell stories about how they have a drug that basically takes away the high (at least from heroin) to sober people up in order to treat them. He says people get pretty upset when they lose their rather expensive buzz. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-undercover-officers-do-drugs/361685/13 "2006-06-23T01:17:32Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > Yes. I can’t seem to find the name of it, but a paramedic friend of mine likes to tell stories about how they have a drug that basically takes away the high (at least from heroin) to sober people up in order to treat them. He says people get pretty upset when they lose their rather expensive buzz. Go figure. From this page: [http://www.drugs.com/MTM/N/Narcan.html](http://www.drugs.com/MTM/N/Narcan.html) Narcan is used to reverse the effects of narcotics.