In the 1960s and 70s various studies showed that the D–L test was not specific to cannabis, although some flawed studies claimed to show the opposite. A 1969 UK government scientist reported twenty-five plant substances giving a D–L test result very similar to that of cannabis and warned that the D–L test "should never be relied upon as the only positive evidence." Another 1969 study found false positives from "a variety of vegetable extracts".
The study most cited in favour of the specificity of the D–L test is Thornton and Nakamura (1972). The authors themselves reported that the D–L test gave false positives, but declared the D–L test confirmatory when combined with the presence of cystolithic hairs, which marijuana plants possess. However, many plant species have such hairs, and the study only confirmed that 82 of them did not give D–L test false positives.
A 2000 study by the US NIST examined 12 chemical spot tests, and concluded that all the tests examined "may indicate a specific drug or class of drugs is in the sample, but the tests are not always specific for a single drug or [class]", and noted that "mace, nutmeg and tea reacted with the modified Duquenois–Levine [test]".
A 2012 Brazilian study tested 40 vegetal drugs with Duquenóis-Levine test and obtained false-positive results to Chilean boldo (Peumus boldus Molina), pot marigold (Calendula officinalis L.), leather hat (Echinodorus grandiflorus (Cham. & Schltdl.) Micheli.), cecropia (Cecropia hololeuca Miq.), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), anise (Pimpinella anisum L.), guaraná (Paulinia cupana Kunth.), jaborandi (Pilocarpus jaborandi Holmes.) and laurel (Laurus nobilis L.).