Reveal She Ate a Poppy Seed Salad. Child Services Took Her Baby.
6 snips
Aug 9, 2025 Shoshana Walter, a reporter with The Marshall Project, dives into the troubling consequences of inaccurate drug testing on mothers. Susan Horton shares her harrowing experience of having her newborn taken away after a false positive from eating a poppy seed salad. Grace Smith recounts her battle against wrongful accusations of drug use during childbirth. They explore the systemic issues surrounding these tests, highlighting the emotional toll on families and the urgent need for reform in child protective services and hospital drug testing practices.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Poppy Seed Salad Triggers Opiate Screen
- Susan Horton ate a poppy seed salad the night before labor and later tested positive for codeine.
- The hospital kept her newborn for monitoring and reported the case to child welfare.
Prescription ADHD Drug Misread As Meth
- Grace Smith was told she tested positive for meth despite having a Vyvanse prescription for ADHD.
- The hospital labeled the result as methamphetamine before confirming her prescription explained the amphetamine finding.
Screening Tests Cast A Wide Net
- Gwen McMillan explains urine screening uses broad immunoassays that flag drug-like molecules rather than identifying specific drugs.
- Those screens require follow-up confirmatory testing to avoid false positives.