Florida Man Sues Sheriff After Drug Test Decides IBS Meds Are Basically Fentanyl During Traffic Stop

Have you ever needed to carry a prescription medication from one place to another? Have you ever done so through use of an automobile? Well, beware if you try to pull that move in South Carolina, because the local sheriffs may just decide that your prescription pills are actually fentanyl and shove you behind bars. In fact, one wrongfully accused driver is suing the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office for that very thing. 

A Florida driver passing through the state was pulled over back in 2024, according to WSPA 7, while carrying prescription medication for irritable bowel syndrome. Cops decided the pills were suspicious, saying they "look very worn and honestly not real," and decided to test them on the spot. I can't say I'm exactly sure what a "worn" pill looks like, but I'd wager that any pill rattling around in its clearly-marked prescription bottle on a road trip will end up a little banged up. 

The cops' field test decided that the IBS pills were a fun mixture of fentanyl and oxycodone, and arrested the driver for manufacturing and trafficking the pills. He was exonerated by South Carolina's forensic laboratory double-checking the pills, but by that point he'd already been arrested, confined to house arrest, and fired from his job. That's why, despite the exoneration, he's suing both the Greenwood County Sheriff's Department and the Sheriff himself — there seem to be plenty of lost wages and a good deal of emotional distress at play. 

Hopefully the Sheriff's department is forced to make this driver whole, and allow him to resume his life before that arrest. the case stands as a warning, though, to any drivers who look even the slightest bit suspicious: Never assume the cops are on your side, or out for the common good. Never assume thir tests are right, either.