SARASOTA, FL. - A man is busted for having an illegal drug in his car.  Turns out, it was just an over-the-counter pain reliever.  Now Sarasota Police are apologizing.

For 13 years, Marci Johnson has managed Super Buy Vitamins And More in downtown Sarasota. They carry the pain reliever Aleve and Johnson says it's a popular choice.  "I know a lot of people come in, the dentist says take Aleve for any problems with dental, a tooth pulled, any type of pain."

But Sarasota Police say it does more than just fight pain: Aleve tests positive for amphetamines.

Villis Sanders uses the pain reliever.  He was pulled over by the SPD in March for a busted tail light.  When police approached the car, they say Sanders tossed a plastic bag with some pills in it under the seat.  Sanders told them it was Aleve, but the officers felt it could be something else.  "If they are not in the package, as they are from the pharmacy, most of the time the officer is going to test.  They took the unpackaged pills, ran what we call a presumptive test and it came back positive."

Sanders was charged with Driving with a Suspended License and Possession of Amphetamines.  He spent 22 hours in jail.  Then a county lab test showed no amphetamines in the pills, so the drug charge was dropped.  "It's important for us to make sure that nobody that's innocent goes to jail.  We have a Forensics Sergeant here that's going to be taking a look at all our presumptive tests and make sure that this doesn't happen again."

While police will apologize to Sanders for the drug charge, they say this could've been avoided if the Aleve was simply kept in its original package. 

As for Johnson, she's still trying to understand how the pain reliever she's sold for so long could possibly land someone behind bars.  "I can't even imagine, especially as simple as something like over-the-counter medicine that everybody takes and everybody uses."

We tried to reach Sanders, but didn't have any luck.

Police say it's not against the law to carry an over-the-counter medication outside of its original packaging.