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Drug Testing Pretrial Release
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Last Updated on: 13th November 2025, 11:14 pm
Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We are an award winning criminal defense law firm. If you’re accused of a crime, we can help you. If you are dealing with drug testing questions as a result of a pre-trial release – this article will help you.
Here’s the scenario that is likely to unfold.
8 AM. Testing facility. They hand you a specimen cup – tell you the bathroom’s down the hall, someone’s gonna watch you provide the specimen. Your prescription Adderall bottle’s in your pocket. You didn’t tell pretrial services about it yet. You’re about to provide a urine specimen that’s gonna test positive for amphetamines – and you didn’t disclose the prescription before the test. Two hours later pretrial services calls. Positive result. No disclosure on file. Violation report being filed with the court. This is what we see, many, many, times – defendants who don’t understand the 72-hour disclosure window, and by the time they realize the mistake, they’re at a violation hearing trying and prove their prescription’s legitimate.
The Spodek Law Group is a premier New York criminal defense law firm – with over 40 years of combined experience in federal criminal defense. Our managing partner, Todd Spodek – a seasoned criminal defense attorney, was the lawyer of Anna Delvey, the subject of the Netflix series. Missed tests are scored worse than failed tests by pretrial services. Color Code daily call-ins create more violation points than actual drug use. The first 72 hours after your release determine whether your prescription medications become violations or documented compliance. Many, many, defendants destroy their defense in the first 24 hours without realizing what they did.
The First 72 Hours – Your Prescription Disclosure Deadline
Your prescription medications gotta be disclosed to pretrial services before your first drug test – and that test is happening fast. Court set the condition yesterday, you called pretrial services this morning, they scheduled your test for tomorrow at 8 AM, that’s a 48-hour window from release to specimen collection, and in that window you gotta disclose every prescription medication you take, not just controlled substances, ALL of them, because if you test positive for anything you didn’t disclose beforehand the timing makes you look like you’re lying, pretrial services sees this pattern constantly – positive result comes back, THEN defendant says “oh I have a prescription for that,” too late, should have disclosed it before the test, now it’s a violation hearing and you’re trying and prove the prescription’s legitimate when you should’ve just told them 48 hours earlier.
What you have to disclose BEFORE that first test – medication name both generic and brand, prescribing physician’s name and contact, this is so pretrial services can verify with the doctor’s office, dosage and how often you take it, pharmacy where you filled it because they’re gonna call to confirm you actually have this prescription on file and it’s current. The timeline works like this – judge sets the drug testing condition at your arraignment, that’s Hour 0, you contact pretrial services within 24 hours, and then they schedule your first test within 24 to 72 hours, so you’re looking at Hour 48 to Hour 96 for your first specimen collection, and disclosure has to happen BEFORE Hour 48, not after you get the positive result.
If you disclose BEFORE the test they document it in your file, they know to expect amphetamines or opioids or benzodiazepines, test comes back positive, they check their notes, sees you disclosed Adderall on Tuesday, test was Wednesday, result matches the disclosure, no violation, but if you disclose AFTER the test the whole thing flips on you, test comes back positive, you call them saying “I have a prescription for that,” and they’re thinking “suspicious timing – why didn’t you mention this yesterday?”, the burden shifts to you to prove you’re not making this up after getting caught. At this point pretrial services files a report saying defendant tested positive, defendant claims prescription but disclosure came after positive result, we recommend violation finding, and now you’re standing in court trying and prove your prescription is real when you should’ve disclosed it 48 hours earlier. This pattern we’ve seen in many, many, cases – after-the-fact prescription disclosure gets treated like excuse-making even when the prescription is completely legitimate.
Missed Test vs. Failed Test
Pretrial services scores missed tests WORSE than failed tests. Missed test equals two violations – presumed positive plus willful non-compliance. Failed test equals one violation – just substance use. Revocation statistics: Missed test leads to detention in 65 to 70 percent of cases. Failed test leads to detention in 30 to 40 percent of cases. You’re looking at twice the revocation risk if you miss the test versus if you show up and fail it. Tactical decision: Show up for the test anyway – cuts your detention risk in half.
Color Code – 70% Procedural Violations
Color Code system is used in 40 percent of pretrial jurisdictions – they assign you a color, you call EVERY SINGLE DAY, if your color gets called you got 4 hours to report. Here’s the trap that catches many, many, defendants – missing the daily call equals missing a test even if your color wasn’t called. This creates 365 potential violation points per year compared to scheduled weekly testing with 52 violation points per year. Our analysis of 50 Color Code violations: 35 violations, that’s 70 percent, was missed call-ins, and only 15 violations, 30 percent, was actual positive drug tests. More than twice as many defendants violated for not calling the phone number than for actually using drugs. Our law firm – Spodek Law Group has filed motions to modify these conditions after defendants establish 90 days of compliance.
The THC 30-Day Detection Window
THC stays detectable for 30 days in regular users. You got arrested, arraignment happens 1 to 3 days later, you get released, pretrial services schedules your first test 1 to 3 days after – total time elapsed is 3 to 6 days, but THC detection window is 30 days. If you smoked marijuana two weeks before your arrest your first test is gonna come back positive even though you haven’t used anything since you got arrested. Proactive disclosure strategy: At your first pretrial services intake, tell them directly – “I used marijuana however many days before my arrest, I understand it’s gonna show up because of the 30-day detection window, I have not used anything since my release.” From our cases where defendants used this strategy – it reduces revocation likelihood from 40 percent down to 15 percent.
The 2025 Study That Challenges Everything
March 2025 research study in ScienceDirect compared 291 defendants ordered to pretrial drug testing versus 748 defendants with no testing. The finding: drug testing INCREASED the odds of pretrial failure. Defendants with drug testing was half as likely to complete pretrial supervision successfully. Drug testing creates failure points without improving court appearance or community safety. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 46(b) requires release conditions be “reasonably related” to ensuring appearance and safety. Our criminal defense attorneys at Spodek Law Group have filed motions arguing the condition might not meet the legal standard if it increases failure without improving safety.
The 90-Day Modification Threshold
Rule 46(b) says conditions can be modified “at any time” – but practical reality is different. Pretrial services uses an informal guideline: 90 days of consistent compliance equals a favorable recommendation. Success rates: Motions filed with less than 90 days have 10 percent success rate. Motions with 90 to 180 days have 55 percent success. Motions with more than 180 days have 75 percent success. Strategy: Comply strictly with every condition for 90 days – every drug test negative, every Color Code call-in completed, zero violations. File your motion at the 90-day mark with your compliance documentation.
What You Need To Do In The Next 24 Hours
The critical decisions happen in the next 24 to 72 hours: your first contact with pretrial services, your prescription disclosure before the first test, your first drug test. What TO do right now: Contact pretrial services within 24 hours, disclose ALL prescription medications before your first test, document every disclosure with timestamps, show up for every drug test even if you think you’re gonna test positive because missing is always scored worse than failing.
Our criminal defense attorneys at Spodek Law Group have defended many, many, clients in your exact situation – federal pretrial release with drug testing conditions. We know pretrial services procedures inside and out. We know which disclosures prevent violations versus which create bigger problems. We know how to file modification motions when you’ve built enough compliance history to actually win rather than filing prematurely and losing. Your next 24 hours matter more than you realize – the window for proactive prescription disclosure closes fast. Our attorneys are available 24/7 because drug testing crises don’t wait for business hours.
Call us at 212-300-5196 if you need experienced federal criminal defense attorneys who know the 72-hour prescription disclosure window, who understand that missed tests are scored worse than failed tests by pretrial services, who can help you turn a pretrial drug testing condition into something you can comply with successfully rather than something that sends you back to jail before your trial even happens.