Drug Tests

Drug testing is rapidly becoming a standard part of the job application process in the United States.  Due to the prevalence of recreational drugs and the insurance premiums charged to companies to protect from the effects of drugs, it’s becoming an important tool in candidate selection.

Unfortunately, there is no cohesive drug testing law across the country.  It’s advisable to get legal advice before implementing any drug testing to ensure you comply with any particular state laws.  Many states have taken a stance on drug testing, and not always in favor of the employer, so check the facts.

A drug testing policy should be clear and communicated to everyone in the company.  Ensuring there is an easily accessible copy on an intranet or with the policies and procedures for the company so employees have free access to the information at any time.

Drug testing is usually defined in five categories.

• Applicant Testing
• Scheduled Testing
• Random testing
• Treatment Related Testing
• Post-Accident Testing

Applicant testing should be undertaken after an offer has been made in order to comply with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).  There will have to be a discussion about prescription medication before the test and any company with more than 15 employees is subject to ADA.

Scheduled testing can be performed as part of a regular physical.  Laws are sketchy here and only really relate to specific job types.  Obtain legal advice for these.

Random testing is exactly as the name suggest.  It can be implemented at random times, and random people in jobs where safety and security are an issue.  Be careful not to target anyone specifically.  They have to be random, not a means to investigate someone suspected of drug abuse.

Treatment related testing can be undertaken if an employee has received treatment for which drugs were prescribed.  Some will have side effects, and/or if the employee is in a safety or security critical role can be monitored afterwards to ensure they remain drug free.

Post-accident testing is often undertaken if the employee was subject to an industrial accident.  Drugs can cause accidents, and this kind of testing can determine if they played a part in the incident.

As mentioned, different states have different views on drug testing.  If you are an employer looking to implement some kind of testing, or an employee about to be subject to it, it’s best to seek legal counsel pertinent to where you live.  Anything that affects employees can be a legal and litigatory minefield, so it pays to be careful, whichever side of the situation you’re on.

Thanks to President Reagan, drug tests are now commonplace when applying for jobs, and while working in others. A US Navy aircraft crashed on the deck of the USS Nimitz in 1981, taking some crewmembers with it. As a result he signed an executive order mandating drugs testing for all federal employees.

Shortly after, the private sector was let in on the act and permitted to perform drug testing on job applicants as part of the application process. Now over 84% of employers in the United States have some kind of drug testing process in place. Schools and colleges are also beginning to implement drug testing of their own, and you can now buy home drug testing kits almost as readily as you can pregnancy testing kits.

A drug test is designed to locate chemical compounds of specific drugs, or the metabolites of them. When a body digests or metabolizes, something, it breaks it down into other chemicals. Specific compounds have specific metabolites, which these tests will detect. The idea of searching for metabolites as well as the drug itself is that it’s evidence of the subject having ingested the drug.

These metabolites are transported by the body and stored in fatty deposits. These are semi-permanent and will only disappear when the body burns the fat for energy. Therefore, the tests can often detect drugs long after the actual event. The detection time varies however between the drugs, and the lifestyle of the person involved.

The tests themselves are no indicator of intent, so they cannot prove that the person voluntarily took drugs, only that they have taken them. While this is a little wooly as far as the law goes, the presence of drugs in a subjects system, whether taken knowingly or not, is enough to deny employment or attract other kinds of censure.

The urine test requires a sample of urine and a test card is applied to it to indicate the presence of any drugs. If the card provides a positive result, the urine is sent for further testing in a laboratory. This test is very reliable but is subject to being fooled by urine substitution or drinking water heavily for a period before the test.

The hair test is another reliable drug testing method. A sample of hair is taken and tested for the same metabolites. As the drug is ingested in the blood, they are deposited into the hair follicle. There is stays until the hair either drops out or is cut off.

The blood test is the most complicated, and expensive drugs test to undertake. It involves the taking of a sample of blood by a doctor or nurse and having that blood tested for the metabolites. These are often reserved for court cases, litigation or life insurance policies.

All positive results can be confirmed by using mass spectrometry, which confirms the presence of the compound and the metabolites at the molecular level, and is regarded as absolutely accurate.