A Chicago-area high school student and his mother are outraged after he tested positive for cocaine last December, even though he says he has never used the drug. Now, the two are taking legal action with four other students who have also been accused of using the drug after positive results.
Chicago’s ABC News 7 reported last week that Elijah Ikezoe-Jones and his mother Nishia Ikezoe were shocked by the results and immediately re-tested at an independent lab. This time the results came back negative.
The Marian Catholic High School student-athlete was a freshmen last year and now he wants to right this wrong carried out by Omega Laboratories.
“That’s ridiculous. I would never do anything like that,” Elijah answers when asked if he took cocaine.
The same company tested four other Black students and they tested positive as well. Their parents went to an independent lab to be re-tested and found no traces of cocaine in their systems.
“It was just very confusing. It was upsetting because I had no idea how something like this could happen,” the 15-year-old’s mother tells reporters. “How is this happening multiple times, to these same students, these African-American kids that are good students? That are athletes? How is this possible? This lab company is — they have to be stopped — I don’t know any other way to put it.”
However, ABC 7 reports that if a child is exposed to the drug, they could test positive for the drug.
“Some populations could be at risk for testing positive when they’re not actually using cocaine but are exposed in their environment,” Dr. Trevonne Thompson, a toxicologist explains.
Elijah and his mother insist they have never been around the illegal substance.
According to court documents, all four students tested negative but the school still expelled two of them.
As a retort, the families of these students are suing the school and Omega Laboratories for “intentional and reckless discrimination.”
The school no longer conducts drug tests through Omega Labs.
