| Photo: CleanWizz.com |
A Florida pilot pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Pittsburgh to conspiring to sell a product designed to help people beat federally mandated urinalysis drug tests.
Stephen Sharp, 41, of Port Orange, Fla., sold a powdered drink mix over the Internet that he said was 100 percent effective in helping fellow pilots and other transportation workers such as truck drivers and train engineers beat the drug tests, reports Brian Bowling at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The product was advertised as clearing urine of the metabolites of marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs so that individuals could beat the test, thus meet safety standards adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
He sold the “Your In The Clear” product (yes, I know it should be “You’re In The Clear”) from the now-defunct domain www.yourintheclear.com from 2006 until federal agents knocked down the door of his business, Sharp Labs, on May 7, 2008, according to U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton.
“I’m just looking to get it behind me and get on with my life,” said Sharp, a pilot for PSA Airlines of Dayton, Ohio, a subsidiary of US Airways Group that flies under the US Airways Express brand.
The Sharp prosecution also started under former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, often called a “rising star in Republican politics” who is considering a run for Congress. (What? More obnoxious drug-war posturing from a pea-brained, ambitious right-wing prosecutor? Say it ain’t so.)
Buchanan was also responsible for the federal prosecution of counterculture hero Tommy Chong in Operation Pipe Dream. Chong was convicted of shipping bongs across state lines as part of his Web-based California business, Chong Glass. He served nine months in federal prison.
Sharp is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Cercone on September 3.
