Cops lie all the time. It's standard police procedure. They can talk to your brother to scare him, maybe trying to get him to confess ... or check into rehab ... but, unless there is good reason to believe that he still has the pills in his possession and someone knows where they are and will swear to that under penalty of perjury, it's not enough to have probable cause for a search warrant. Also, one person's accusatory word (if they're not law enforcement or a "reliable informant") is usually not enough to get a grand jury indictment. Depending on where you live, they might not be able to make it a felony charge. Sure, it could happen, but i would hope that most juries would only convict someone of a misdemeanor over a lost bottle of pills ... especially if the pills are not found in his possession.

The only exceptions to the above would be if he was on probation or parole. Then his civil rights are much less. They would drug test him, and if he tested positive for opiates and had no prescription, he'd be back in prison.

Trampy