# Friend got fired as job of substitute teacher for a "false Positive" drug test, any truth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978 "2025-10-15T01:01:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/21 "2025-10-15T19:22:41Z")
Asuka, I’m wondering if you have decided whether he is telling the truth about the drug test. For reasons I’ve posted above. I say no, he’s lying. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/22 "2025-10-15T19:27:06Z")
I’ve had a friend like that; the man hasn’t previously planned ahead. He had some miscellaneous property I helped him sell and then he moved to a displaced men’s resource center. He got some therapy, pertinent advice from experts there and found a social service job within a year. None of this ideas are probably useful but I’m trying to be encouraging to OP and his friend (without OP having to delve in financially. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/23 "2025-10-15T19:40:31Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Friend worked as a substitute teacher at a California public school for 14 years but iirc he’s not part of a Union. He randomly got drug tested a month ago (it was a standard random test) and it popped as a positive for meth. Now he claims it was for a weight loss drug that was doctor prescribed and he is fighting it, but he claims even a false positive drug test with a medical excuse means he automatically gets fired from his teaching job and is unable to reapply for an entire year so now he’s out of a teaching job for an entire year. At least around here a substitute teaching job pays about the same as a McJob. If he’s going to be out of teaching for a while, that’s certainly an alternative. Is he a “permanent” sub? Some schools have a teacher on staff (at less pay) that fills in as needed; if no need, still gets paid. Or, if they are a “long term” sub (i.e. filling in for a teacher on medical leave), that’s steady work. The biggest benefit of being in a union is that they’ll fight battles like this for you. The union can throw their weight around. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/24 "2025-10-15T20:42:01Z")
To clarify my post above, I fully believe he got popped on a drug test. The lie is that it was random, it wasn’t; it was for cause. Which also make the prescription drug excuse suspect. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/25 "2025-10-15T21:10:43Z")
Using the prescription as a convenient excuse to indulge maybe? Could both be true. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/26 "2025-10-15T22:03:11Z")
IIRC, a scrip for, say diet pills, might excuse a real low hit, like e.g. traces of meth taken 4 weeks ago. If you’re doing serious drugs often, the camouflage of a scrip or OTC med might cover the type of metabolite, but not the high quantity thereof. That’s where MROs earn their crust. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/27 "2025-10-15T22:27:23Z")
MROs? Anyway, > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > To clarify my post above, I fully believe he got popped on a drug test. The lie is that it was random, it wasn’t; it was for cause. Which also make the prescription drug excuse suspect. This seems most believable to me. And Saint\_Cad is a teacher, I believe, so should have a little extra insight. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/28 "2025-10-15T22:43:05Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > MROs? You may have missed it upthread: > [@Odesio](#): > > The way a drug screen for employment works, even for random screenings, is the results are screened by the medical review officer (MRO). If there’s anything positive, the MRO contacts the employee and asks if there’s any medical reasons that explains the results. For the most part, a legitimate medical reason will be a prescription. [all credit to @Odesio of course] ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/29 "2025-10-15T22:47:58Z")
Right off the bat, it’s absurd that a law could lay out conditions for a “false positive test”. The whole point of a false positive is that you don’t know that that’s what it is. If you knew, it wouldn’t be positive any more; it’d be a true negative. There might be a law that says that a teacher gets fired for a positive drug test, but the law can’t distinguish between true positives and false positives. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/30 "2025-10-15T22:54:05Z")
I did miss that! I even looked up in the thread and missed it again. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/31 "2025-10-15T23:04:46Z")
Absolutely no problem, again all credit to **Odesio** , and I’m always happy to credit posters who define their anacronyms/abbreviations! ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/32 "2025-10-15T23:09:16Z")
It seems you think he’s lying. Does he qualify for unemployment? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/33 "2025-10-15T23:40:49Z")
Laws could certainly lay out provisions for reviews, appeals, etc., following a positive. Which the not so impartial defendant could label false positives even before adjudication. Validly or BSly. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/34 "2025-10-16T00:58:02Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > This seems most believable to me. And Saint\_Cad is a teacher, I believe, so should have a little extra insight. Thanks but it comes from my cite above that random drugs tests are almost never allowed in California. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/35 "2025-10-16T06:02:37Z")
Having watched too many court cases on YouTube, nothing a drug user says surprises me anymore. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/36 "2025-10-16T14:56:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IIRC, a scrip for, say diet pills, might excuse a real low hit, like e.g. traces of meth taken 4 weeks ago. Stupid question, but does a prescription amphetamine (his excuse) register the same as recreational meth? (I gather is short for methamphetamine). The drug test does not distinguish? I presume it could actually distinguish say, cocaine from heroin from THC? Here in Canada, AFAIK a substitute teacher is gig work, irregular depending on the teacher absentee rate - but the lucky ones (liked by the principal) may get a gig like filling in for a teacher away, say on maternity leave of some other absence which means solid employment for a given amount of time… but still treated like contract work. I assume it’s the same there. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/37 "2025-10-16T15:31:38Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Stupid question, but does a prescription amphetamine (his excuse) register the same as recreational meth? (I gather is short for methamphetamine). The drug test does not distinguish? I presume it could actually distinguish say, cocaine from heroin from THC? I know that I don’t know. Certainly some drugs are identifiably different in testing from others. Which specific ones are being tested for will also vary from one testing protocol to another. I do know that in some (many?) cases, the chemists are not actually assaying for the drug molecule itself, e.g. methamphetamine. But rather for something the drug turns into as the body processes it and eventually spits it all out. So-called “metabolites” of drugs, not drugs themselves. And this is where the false positives come from. If a prohibited drug and a legit drug both end up producing the same metabolite(s) (plus some other different stuff), but the chemist is only measuring the metabolite(s), then that screen can’t tell e.g. diet pills from e.g. meth. (made up example). Except perhaps by correlating quantities with other metabolites that should be expressed differently depending on whether they all came from e.g. diet pills or e.g. meth. Or both? I have no answers, but these are complicated questions of fact. That are probably beyond the details the OP could ever find out about the district’s putative testing regime. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/38 "2025-10-16T19:33:34Z")
I’ve heard urban legend stories about someone bringing into work some poppy seed baking just before the drug tests, and there was the Gold Medal winner at the 1988 winter olympics (for snowboarding, of course) who claimed he stest positive for THC because he’d been at a part a week or two beore where the air was thick with pot smoke… There’s been a few cases over the years of athletes testing positive from over-the-counter cold or flu medication or pain medication and being disqualified. Apparenlty the advice fo top level athletes nowadays is to take nothing except what the doctor prescribes, no matter how common it is. But still - a fellow who works as a substitute teacher and needs a few thousand to get by? Just how lucrative is substitute teacher? People I knew who did it back in the day, it paid OK but nothing special, and usually it was not steady work. What did he do in the summers? Maybe Home Depot is hiring. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/39 "2025-10-16T21:54:28Z")
The salary scale for substitute teachers in my school district is $20-$27/hr. AFAICT subs only get paid for classroom time, so even assuming a full six hours teaching per day, 20 days a month, the best they can hope for is $3,240/mo. for 9 months. I’m guessing the pay scale in California is higher; OTOH, teachers don’t normally teach during every period in every school day. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2025, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978/40 "2025-10-17T08:05:51Z")
Long Beach Unified School District where I taught pays $224 a day on average. It was about $120 when I subbed 30+ years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-got-fired-as-job-of-substitute-teacher-for-a-false-positive-drug-test-any-truth/1023978.md?page=3)