You see it done all the time in movies and television... seems like an awfully foolish practice.

"Still" taste it? Sounds like they never did:
"Why do cops in movies taste cocaine?"


Edited to add: This took me about 5 seconds to google and read. I guess you could come here for answers, but googling and looking for reputable results seems faster...

For the same reason their cars explode at the slightest touch, and for the same reasons that there is sound and explosions on space:

it's a movie myth that just happens to look really cool on the screen.

Only the good ones.

They usually don't do that in real life anymore, because you know, it sort of contaminates evidence.

Yes. I love putting random substances in my mouth. Nothing can possibly go wrong there!

Is that coke? Nope, it's anthrax.

ggoijpgoio

I guess I could have done that, but then I would have missed out on all of the Otter witty repartee

I believe the correct answer is: actors portraying cops in movies use real cocaine when they're tasting it. I mean hey why not - it's showbiz, they're cool.

How about objects?

Of course they do.

Officer opens trunk of car, moves the black tarp. He sees a stack of well made blocks wrapped in a plastic-like material.

He takes out his switchblade, flips it open and jabs lightly into one of the blocks. White powder lightly falls out. He gets just a bit on the end of his blade.
He puts the blade to his tongue.

Officer- "Yep, it's pure".

End Scene.


6 Month later.

Nurse- " Officer, I hope your ready today".

Officer- "Why is that?"

Nurse- "Because today were drug testing you."

Officer- "Weak."


End Career.

Do officers still carry switchblades in their boots?

6 months might be a little long for cocaine to still be in his system, but otherwise your screenplay is strong.

A "little long"?



You can get off work on Friday, ski the slopes like a rock star that night, and pass a drug test Monday.

I love the scene where Shatner was showing Murphy how to do it in 'Showtime'.

That question actually came up at a Citizens Police Academy course i took for a Sociology class in College. I think the answer was pretty close to the google result, he just mentioned since its possible poison, it isn't something that's practiced.
Didn't Robert Deniro actually bring that up to William Shatner in the movie "Showtime"( to those who actually made that far into that movie before turning it off anyway)

The movie MOVING VIOLATIONS played with that cliche by having a cop taste the "white powder" only to find out it was fertilizer.

Brewster McCloud bridges this thread with the "Do actors really Smoke Marijuana in Movies?" thread.

After 2 policemen find a joint at a crime scene, one cop suggests they test it, the 2nd cop flicks a lighter to begin smoking it.

The first cop then opens a plastic bag to put it in for the lab to analyze, while the 1st cop looks on disappointed.