Current *** WORLD *** Breaking News

[jgbuz]

Workers' positive drug tests decrease
Posted 6/20/2006 1:16 AM



By Stephanie Armour and Del Jones, USA TODAY
Illegal drug use among workers in the USA fell to its lowest level in nearly two decades in a trend driven in part by tougher drug-testing practices, putting cold medicines behind the counter and closing down methamphetamine labs in America.
Overall, workers testing positive for drugs fell to 4.1% in 2005, Quest Diagnostics said Monday, the lowest percentage in the 17 years that the giant workplace drug-testing company has been releasing data. It started at 13.6% in 1988 and had fallen to 4.5% in 2003 and 2004.

The percentage of employees testing positive for methamphetamine also tumbled, indicating a reversal of a trend that had become a concern of employers in 2001 and 2002. Positive tests for amphetamines declined 8% in 2005 and is down 45% since 2004.

Data for the first five months of the year also show amphetamine use continuing to decline. Employees testing positive for amphetamine use fell by 10% from January through May.

Quest performs 7.3 million drug tests a year. Marijuana continues to be by far the drug that appears most often in workplace drug tests, although marijuana positives are down 20% since 2001.

"We were pleasantly surprised," says Barry Sample, director of science and technology for Quest's employer solutions division. "Methamphetamine is at the lowest (level) since 2002. Simply having a drug-testing program is an effective deterrent. Testing works and is effective."

It's an issue of importance to employers: More than 70% of substance abusers hold jobs, according to the American Council for Drug Education. Drug use on the job leads to increased accident risks, lower productivity, higher insurance costs and reduced profits.

"Employers have the single-most-effective weapon in the war on drugs: a paycheck," says Mark de Bernardo, executive director of the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace.

The White House said on Monday that seizures of meth labs dropped more than 30% last year. It said the reason was that more states and retail drugstores limited access to cold medications that are used to make meth. "The workplace data has been very powerful in that it's based on many, many tests," says John Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy.

Drug testing often occurs during the pre-employment process, and employers may test hair, urine and saliva. The worrisome trend now, de Bernardo says, is abused prescription drugs including Percocet and Oxycontin.

"There are more employers (testing). It's great that the positive results are down, but it's a little preliminary," says Nancy Delogu, a Washington, D.C., employment lawyer. "The drugs-in-the-workplace problem has not gone away."