- Agents recently seized 40 synthetic urine kits in a Tooele smoke shop.
- Selling synthetic urine has been illegal in Utah since 2019.
- Synthetic urine kits are found in an estimated 80% of businesses investigated for illegal vape sales, police say.
SALT LAKE CITY — An agent with the State Bureau of Investigation was in a Tooele smoke shop recently investigating the possible sale of flavored nicotine vapes to minors when he noticed something else for sale.
"One of the (agents) observed synthetic urine kits on display and available for sale in the main lobby … which is illegal to sell in Utah," according to court documents.
Agents returned with a search warrant and 40 urine kits were seized in addition to vapes, the warrant states.
In January, during a similar investigation at a Lehi convenience store, 95 synthetic urine kits were seized, according to court documents. And at a second smoke shop in Tooele in March, agents seized an additional 12 urine kits.
Distributing or possessing synthetic urine became illegal in Utah in 2019. The statute was updated last year, making it a crime to distribute, possess or sell synthetic urine if the purpose of selling the fake pee is to help people defeat a drug or alcohol test.
Violating the synthetic urine statute is considered a petty offense or an infraction, punishable by a fine of up to $750. The penalties are higher for offenders who are already on court-ordered supervision or under the supervision of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
Although it is a low-level crime, according to Utah Department of Public Safety Lt. Juliane Hawkes, state agents are now finding synthetic urine kits for sale at 80% of the places being investigated for other crimes, such as illegal vape or THC sales.
"They are consistently paired," she said.
Synthetic urine is typically used by people who are being drug tested — for employment, for example — and know they won't pass. If the person administering the test is not watching closely, the person taking the drug test will attempt to pour the synthetic product into the plastic cup used to collect the sample.
In 2024, in Grantsville, a driver was arrested for hitting a woman and her 1-year-old son, who was in a stroller. The driver, who admitted to smoking marijuana the night before, also had a bottle of fake urine hidden in his shorts, which he claimed "he kept it on him in case of a random drug screening at his work," a police booking affidavit states. He pleaded guilty in 2025 to negligently operating a vehicle and causing serious injury.
While some of these kits are sold out in the open, Hawkes says undercover agents have learned that other businesses keep the products in a back room and investigators need to have "very distinct conversations" with employees in order to purchase a bag of fake urine.
"It has become a common practice for smoke shops to vet their customers, similar to how drug distributors do, in an attempt to avoid criminal apprehension and penalties. Their vetting process can vary from using passwords, being referred by a known customer, answering some questions, to the most extreme, in which they'll only sell to previously known customers," an agent stated in court documents.
During an investigation in Lehi, an agent recounted in his warrant his conversation with an employee.
"I told him that my work wanted to drug test me and inquired about the urine kit. He told me that it is actual urine from an animal and that it comes with both the urine and a heat pack, which you microwave to 'maintain' body temperature. He told me that if I was not being watched that the urine kit would be the best. He told me to follow the instructions on the back, referring to the urine kit, before I paid for it and cleared the store," the agent wrote in court documents.
More commonly, however, urine kits are manufactured in a laboratory specifically for commercial sales, Hawkes said.
