NEWPORT BEACH - Prosecutors Tuesday dropped charges against a punk rock drummer who was arrested when some organic soap tested positive for the drug GHB.

Jimmy Michael Giorsetti, 50, who goes by the name Don Bolles as a drummer for The Germs, had been scheduled to be in a Newport Beach courtroom on May 18 to answer a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance and three misdemeanors, including possession of a marijuana - charges that could bring up to three in prison if convicted, said Farrah Emami of the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

But the bottle of Dr. Bonner's Magic Soap found by police in Giorsetti's 1968 Dodge van when he was arrested on April 4, was found to contain no trace of the so-called date rate drug GHB,or Gamma-hydroxy butyrate, leading to the prosecutor to drop all charges, said Farrah Emami of District Attorney's Office.

The results came back on Friday and when it did, "our office moved quickly to dismiss the charges," including pot possession, Emami said. In a brief hearing, Superior Court Judge Peter Polos agreed, his clerk said.

David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, said representative of his bought the same NarcoPouch(R) 928 GHB field test made by ODV Inc. that was used by Newport Beach police, and ran tests on its soap and others.

"We confirmed that the test is useless when used on soap since every test came back positive," he said. "We also tested other common brands of soap including Johnson & Johnson's popular Neutrogena brand, as well as Colgate- Palmolive's popular Tom's of Maine brand, which gave the same false-positive tests as well."

"Our customers need to know now this whole soap opera is a mistake by police who tormented an innocent 50-year-old man with jail," Bronner said.

He said police departments nationwide "should immediately stop using the ODV Inc. field test for GHB as it is not accurate when used on soaps and who knows what other common household products."

Bronner said Giorsetti, based on the faulty test, was arrested and jailed over Easter weekend,

He said the soap in question is made with organic coconut, olive, hemp, peppermint and jojoba oils.

Newport Beach police Sgt. Evan Sailor said his department was concerned about the false-positive test.

"We'll look into it," he said, adding that "I'm not sure there are any other options."

Sailor said officers must suspect a substance is illegal before testing it. He said he did not know of any similar arrests when a field test turned out to be wrong.

Giorsetti said the charges had jeopardized his ability to travel outside the country for an upcoming European tour.

"I've used only Dr. Bronner's soap for 35 years," Giorsetti said. "I use it for everything - bathing, washing my hair, washing my clothes - it goes everywhere I go." CNS-04-17-2007 13:27