False positives create a dilemma for California inmates

If a drug test that could give a false positive result denied you parole, would you avoid entering a treatment program that required the drug test in the first place? Some California prison doctors say yes..

As CalMatters’ Cayla Mihalovich reports, about 50,000 California inmates have received drug addiction treatment since 2020. Treatment involves frequent presumptive drug tests to monitor recovery. Drug tests must not be used punitively, according to state correctional health services policy, a rule that mirrors standards set by the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

But the tests can also increase the chances of getting a false positive for substances other than prescription drugs. That can lead to inmates being denied parole and has discouraged some from entering treatment, prison doctors argued in a 2025 letter to the California parole board.

• the letter: “Urine toxicology, like many medical tests, is imperfect. . . . We’ve personally had some of our most successful, stable patients test positive for substances they didn’t take because of false positives.”

Phil Stamps began drug treatment in 2020 at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center to help end his opiate addiction. In a parole board review last year, commissioners cited six instances where he tested positive for methamphetamine between 2023 and 2025.

Stamps denied all of them and said he stopped taking antidepressants and one of his inhalers to reduce the chances of a false positive. A doctor also wrote in Stamps’ medical record that they were “convinced that (the patient) either had a lab mix-up or a false positive.”

Regardless, Stamps was denied parole and said he would like to never enter treatment.

• Stamps: “The program can do a lot of good for people with substance use disorders, but because of what the parole board is doing, people are afraid to ask for help.”

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California joins 12 Democratic-led states suing the Trump administration over clean energy funding cuts. At stake is about $2.7 billion in grants previously approved by Congress, $1.2 billion of which is earmarked for California alone.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday that almost all of that money for California was for finance hydrogen projectsa type of potentially clean fuel that is currently expensive to produce. Another $4 million, cut under President Donald Trump, was set aside for the state to implement energy-efficient building standards.

This is California’s 58th lawsuit against the federal administration since Trump’s return to the White House. In half of those cases, including this latest one, Trump is illegally “trying to be Congress,” Bonta said during a virtual news conference. He added that the state had protected about $200 billion in funding that Trump had tried to claw back.

For more on the other legal battles California is waging with Trump, see CalMatters case tracking tool.

The The California Democratic State Convention begins Friday in San Francisco, kicking off a three-day meeting where some 3,500 expected Democratic delegates will choose who to endorse in the June primary, CalMatters’ Maya S. Miller and Jeanne Kuang write.

The race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom will be the biggest contest, although it is unlikely that any of the nearly 10 Democratic candidates will win enough delegates to win an official endorsement. Eight of those gubernatorial candidates are scheduled to give speeches at the convention on Saturday.

The convention will also highlight a dilemma the party has wrestled with since Trump’s second term: whether to continue supporting established congressional candidates backed by party leadership or to back political outsiders who have strong grassroots support.

There are signs of the desire for new candidates: In January, local delegates blocked five Democratic House incumbents from receiving endorsements that incumbents typically receive by default.

• Heidi Halla Nevada county supervisor who is running for Congress: “People on the ground are tired of internal politics like this. They want to be heard and they want an opportunity to elect the candidate they want.”

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San Diego teachers reached an agreement with the San Diego Union School District on Friday, avoiding what would have been their first strike in 30 years. The new labor contract aims to provide more support for teachers in the specialty. Read more by Deborah Brennan of CalMatters.