Data in the Quest Diagnostics 2021 Annual Report on workforce drug testing is drawn from over 7 million employee drug tests administered in 2020, and it shows mixed results.

The overall rate of positive results on workplace drug tests declined slightly from 4.5% in 2019 to 4.4% in 2020. Positive test results for marijuana continued to rise steadily, while amphetamine positivity rates stayed steady at 1.1%, which is what it has been every year since 2016.

Many workers in industries performing public safety or national security roles “requiring a high degree of public trust” are subject to federally-mandated drug testing requirements from the Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Defense (DOD), or Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRL). In 2020, positivity rates among these Safety-Sensitive workers decreased 8.3% from 2019, but were still 10% higher than the 2016 rates.

As the Safety-Sensitive workforce positive rates decreased, the general workforce rates increased. Overall positivity rates for the general workforce in 2020 increased 3.8% over the previous year, with 5.5% of all tests positive, putting the rate 12.2% higher than in 2016. Nevada and Oklahoma had the highest positivity rates in the country, and Nebraska and Wyoming showed a few of the lowest positivity rates.

Cocaine Positivity Rate Declines

In the general workforce, positive tests for cocaine were down 18.5% at 0.22% positive compared to 2019. This is the lowest number of positive cocaine tests since 2012.

Marijuana Positivity Rate Skyrockets

The positive test rate for marijuana continues to skyrocket in the general workforce, with positivity rate in 2020 being as high as 3.6% in comparison with the 2019 rate of 3.1%. The Safety-Sensitive workforce positive test rate for marijuana started to improve slightly in 2020 at 2.2% positive. While this is still 10% higher than the 2016 rates, it is at least an improvement.

Post-accident marijuana usage in the general workforce is also heading for the stars with 6.4% of tests administered following an accident testing positive. This is a huge cause for concern for employers and employees alike who strive to ensure a safe workplace. Positivity rates in the Safety-Sensitive workforce post-accident tests stayed steady at 1.6% throughout 2019 and 2020.

Not surprisingly, positivity rates in states that have legalized recreational marijuana usage is consistently rising. Positive workplace marijuana tests increased 118.2% since 2012 and sat at 4.8% positivity in 2020. In the states that have not legalized marijuana, the rate also increased, but only 68.4% since 2012 and were charted at 3.2% positive.

Nevada, once again, had one of the highest positivity rates for marijuana in 2020, with the northern midwest and Rocky Mountains area showing the lowest rates.

Ecstasy Positivity Rate Climbs

Positivity for MDMA/MDA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine–usually referred to as ecstasy–is also on the rise, increasing 25% from 2019 to land at 0.01% positive in 2020. Yes, this is a small number, but ecstasy rates have slowly, yet steadily increased year after year and could become a larger issue if the trend continues.

Helpful Resources for Employers

The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recommends Workplace Prevention Basics as a resource for employers to learn about preventing substance abuse in the workplace. Find more information about Drug-Free Workplace Programs here

If you want to learn about simple, cost-effective employment drug testing solutions for your business, email us at cs@homehealthtesting.com. 

The post How the Covid-19 Pandemic Affected Drug Use at Work first appeared on Home Health Testing.

Whether your organization already conducts periodic employment drug screens or not, it’s best to know what the common signs of employee drug abuse are. If you see signs of drug abuse, document what you observe as factually as possible.

How can I tell if an employee is using drugs?

While the only way to know for certain is to obtain a confirmed positive result on a drug test, here are six common signs that could mean an employee is using drugs.

• Missing Work or Coming in Late
• Accidents On or Off the Job
• Decreased Productivity at Work
• Behavioral Changes or Erratic Behavior
• Changes in Appearance or Speech
• Impaired Awareness or Poor Judgement

What to Do if You Suspect Employee Drug Abuse

1. First of all, if the employee holds a safety-sensitive position and you have reason to believe he or she may currently be impaired, take immediate action. You can remove them from duty and conduct a “For-Cause” drug screen if an employee shows discernible signs of being unfit for duty. This is the best course of action when the health and safety of both the employee and others are involved.
2. If the situation doesn’t require immediate action, but you suspect drug abuse, document your observations in an objective and factual way. Your workplace sleuthing doesn’t necessarily require you to make accusations right off the bat. Gather information from first-hand sources only, avoiding hearsay or gossip. If an employee shows a pattern of unsafe behavior at work, you can conduct a “Reasonable Suspicion” drug test.

If your organization already has a workplace drug testing program in place, review your policies before you confront or take disciplinary action against an employee for suspected drug use. The laws outlining legal next steps vary from state to state, so you’ll want to make sure you act in accordance with your state’s laws.

The Americans with Disabilities Acts protects individuals with alcohol dependency and those who develop an addiction to legally prescribed medications. It does not offer protection to a current user of illegal drugs, but it does cover a person in recovery who has already quit using them.

Federal contractors and safety-sensitive positions within the Department of Transportation (DOT) are required to establish a Drug-Free Workplace according to federal guidelines, and are mandated to carry out routine workplace drug screening.

An employer is permitted to conduct drug tests in five situations.

1. Pre-employment
2. As part of an Annual Physical
3. For-Cause and Reasonable Suspicion
4. Post Accident
5. Post Treatment after rehabilitation

Urine testing has been the standard method of workplace screening for some time, but mouth-swab drug tests are becoming increasingly popular. They are easier to perform in a work environment, and saliva tests indicate past drug use within a shorter detection time window, generally between 1 hour and 3 days. This gives a better indication of what substances an individual has used more recently, which is more likely to directly affect performance at work due to impairment or withdrawals.

However your drug screening policy is structured, clearly communicate your expectations and policies to your employees before you hire them and whenever you implement a change. Your ultimate goal is not to catch someone doing something they shouldn’t, but to foster a productive, drug-free workplace from day one.

The post 6 Signs of Employee Drug Use first appeared on Home Health Testing.

In 2016 there was a 12 percent increase in Cocaine positive tests.  Cocaine positive testing has now increased 4 years in a row.  The press or media typically highlight our opioid epidemic and the marijuana laws, but cocaine use is also on the rise.

In the same study, they cited that heroin detection has plateaued and prescription opiate positive testing actually declined 28% from .96 percent of test results to .69 percent.  These facts are hopeful that possibly some of the attention on the opioid crisis is having a positive impact.

Quest Diagnostics also publishes this data on an Interactive Map showing urine drug test positivity regionally in the USA.

Looking at this map shows that that the Southeast clearly leads the nation in positive drug test results.  The national average is 4.2% of employees tested were positive, but look at the rates (dark green) in the these states – all above the national average:

If you want to know more about what drugs are showing up in your own area, go to the Interactive Drug Map and click on the drug list at the bottom left and you will see how your area compares to the rest of the country.

For example, here is where positive cocaine tests are the highest

The interactive map is useful for determining the drug culture of your own area and gives any small business the ability to determine the best drug testing policies for your business and workforce.

The post Highest Positive Workplace Drug Test Results in 12 Years first appeared on Home Health Testing.

• Benzodiazepines (300 ng/mL)
• Buprenorphine (10 ng/mL)
• Methadone (300 ng/mL)
• Opiates (300 ng/mL)
• Oxycodone (100 ng/mL)

This new test targets the most commonly prescribed and misused prescription drugs and will provide instant results for clinicians. The integrated cups are easy to use since they are self contained and are ideal for sending preliminary positive specimens to a lab for confirmation.

A temperature strip and specimen validity test are built in to check for specimen tampering checking Creatinine (CR), Nitrites (NI), Oxidants (OX), pH (PH), and specific gravity (SG).

The urine drug screen for prescription drugs are available at POCTestSupply in boxes of 25 tests.

The post Drug Test for Prescription Drugs first appeared on Home Health Testing.

There are a couple of factors that determine the duration of a drugs’ presence in the body. Firstly is metabolism. The quicker your body processes what you ingest, the quicker it also leaves the system. Second is hydration and body mass. Fatty tissue has a tendency to store chemicals longer then lean tissue and staying hydrated means less fluid retention. Finally, there is the amount and frequency of use. A first time user can pass a drug through their system generally quicker than a frequent user whose body has built up a tolerance to the drug. Similarly, someone who takes a lower dosage of the drug will test lower sooner than someone who took a higher dosage.

Different types of tests call for different detection times. Oxycodone is detectable in blood tests for roughly 24 hours, in saliva tests for 1-4 days, urine tests 3-4 days and hair tests up to 90 days. This is backed up by findings done in a 2014 study by Ron R. Flegal for SAMSHA.

The study took two groups of 12 healthy, drug-free people and gave one group a single 20mg dose oxycodone and the other group a single two tablet dose of 10mg hydrocodone with 325mg acetaminophen each. They then measured the detection times of the dose through blood, saliva and urine tests over a 50 hour time period. The results show that both oxycodone and hydrocodone showed up in blood and saliva within 15-30 minutes and showed positive in urine within 0-2 hours. For the blood test, the two drugs were out of the detection range in under 25 hours and out of detection range on the saliva test in roughly 35-50 hours. The urine test took the longest as the drugs were detectable up to hour 50.

It is extremely important to note that these are not guarantees that oxycodone will be out of your system in the time frames mentioned. The only way to know for sure is to be tested.

The post How long does oxycodone stay in your system? first appeared on Home Health Testing.

Last Call

The Last Call by Avvo, Inc. is a free iPhone app that calculates a user’s blood alcohol content by allowing him or her to monitor their blood alcohol level with each drink consumed. You enter each drink into your Last Call log in the same way as you would use an app to keep track of nutrition or exercise data. As you consume each drink the app will update the total amount instantly. Your total blood alcohol content will identify high levels of blood alcohol. This is particularly helpful if you have had one too many drinks and you don’t feel comfortable getting behind the wheel. This app also has a feature that connects the user with local taxi cab companies. Last Call will also connect you with the top DUI attorneys in the area should you find yourself in a sticky situation with the local authorities. The Last Call app can also be used on an iPad or iPod Touch.

While the Last Call is a good idea, it would not be a reliable solution to tell you when you are impaired since you, the impaired one, are responsible for entering the data while you are drinking.

BreathalEyes
BreathalEyes blood alcohol content scanner is available for $1.99 and is designed for iPhones and iPads from developer Xplor Apps, LLC. This app only works on intoxicated users. It is designed to measure blood alcohol content by scanning the user’s eye and analyzing the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN). Nystagmus is involuntary twitching and movement of the eyeball that occurs after an individual becomes tipsy. The brain function and faculty control is impaired and an individual’s eyeball bounces horizontally. BreathalEyes is able to display a user’s blood alcohol content with an effective range of 0.02% to 0.20% by analyzing the spontaneous eyeball bobbles. The developer claims that there is more than four decades of research behind this technology. Major benefits of the BreathalEyes app include the fact that it does not require a network connection and the app does not clutter your screen with any advertisements. There is an option to share your BreathalEyes results publicly on social networks. The BreathalEyes app will not record your data unless you choose to share it. This app works best on iPhone 4 or later devices.

If the technology behind BreathalEyes is reliable then it may be a good solution for measuring blood alcohol content.  The folks over at Huff Post tested the app and got some mixed results and stated “we found that, while the app reliably gave higher scores to those who were boozing than those who were abstaining, it still gave a 0.05 BAC to several ladies and gents who were stone-cold sober.”  However, the BreathalEyes website clearly says it only works on intoxicated people.

The one drawback to BreathalEyes is that you cannot measure yourself and must have another person available to scan your eye with the phone camera.

Breathometer

The Breathometer device is available for preorder through its own website and is a $49.00 add-on device designed for most smartphones. Breathometer links onto a key chain or slips right into your pocket. You plug the Breathometer device into the audio jack of your smartphone when you want to use it. Once the device is plugged in you simply exhale into the device in order to test the blood alcohol concentration level on your breath. Using the Breathometer is a fun way to test your blood alcohol level. You can also share your Breathometer with friends and let them test it out. An added bonus is that the device is sleek and looks fashionable on your key chain.

The Breathometer seems to solve the user issues of the two previous apps since it can give the answer without the help of data input or another person.  The drawback is having to carry a device in addition to your phone while it is small and does fit on a keychain, you are still responsible for having the device when you need it.

Your Phone – No app necessary

If you are questioning your ability to drive, the most reliable solution is to use your phone as a phone and call a cab or a friend to pick you up.

The post Alcohol Testing with your iPhone first appeared on Home Health Testing.

In 1989, the Federal Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 became law. This law required that all federal contractors who receive $100,000 or more, as well as all federal grant recipients, must comply with its requirements. What is often overlooked is that the Act did not require drug testing. Actually, here is a quote from the Department of Labors website’s FAQ about the Drug Free Workplace Act:

Is drug testing required or authorized under these regulations?
The Act and these rules neither require nor authorize drug testing. The legislative history of the Drug-Free Workplace Act indicates that Congress did not intend to impose any additional requirements beyond those set forth in the Act. Specifically, the legislative history precludes the imposition of drug testing of employees as part of the implementation of the Act. At the same time, these rules in no way preclude employers from conducting drug testing programs in response to government requirements (e.g., Department of Transportation or Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules) or on their own independent legal authority.

What the Drug Free Workplace Act did require was policies, information, education about the dangers of drugs and resources if you have a drug or substance issue, but not testing.

There are many arguments both for and against testing for marijuana. Some people believe that those who are operating heavy machinery or dangerous machinery such as forklifts should be regularly tested for marijuana usage because it may affect their ability to do their job. However, others believe this is unfair because these same employees are not tested for alcohol abuse and alcohol abuse is equally if not more detrimental to motor skills and response times. Some companies today are fine with medicinal marijuana use as long as the person is not in a position in which it could be a safety hazard.

While as of now there is no actual mandate requiring the testing of employees for marijuana, federal employees are still usually tested for marijuana and it is likely these companies will continue to do so until it is legalized on a federal level. This means that employees that are both directly employed by the federal government and indirectly employed through federal contracts are very likely to be drug tested for marijuana usage.

Employers will grapple with these issues for years to come as both State and Federal laws change.  Take a look at this employer’s point of view in Colorado since his company has federal contracts and he does not want to have any problems meeting his Federal requirements, but realizes it may be harder to find employees who can pass a drug test.

From the drug test perspective, there are few multiple panel tests that don’t include marijuana, but that may be changing.  We have been notified that drug testing manufacturers will be adding multi panel tests without marijuana in the next few months.  So we may have a twelve panel drug test in stock soon that omits a THC test. The question remains, when will workplaces adopt new policies to adapt to the social and legal changes in our country.

The post The Future of Marijuana in the Drug Free Workplace first appeared on Home Health Testing.

Many Americans are becoming addicted to prescription painkillers and as they find it more difficult to either get the prescriptions or find them illegally on the street, they are turning to heroin to feed their habit which is causing great concern for the medical community.  Moving from a prescription drug to a street drug imposes many risks for the user since street drugs can be of unknown quality or dose and heroin specifically requires needle use.

“As bad as oxycodone is, heroin is worse,” Publicker said. “It’s worse because here in Maine, it’s injected. We’re talking about a novice population of drug injectors who are not educated about needle use.”

Plain and simple, heroin is cheaper too.  According to DEA Special Agent Amy Roderick in San Diego, one oxy pill may sell for $100 a pill while you can buy heroin for $80 a gram.

“You’re just getting more bang for the buck,” Roderick said. “Once you’re addicted to an opiate, you’re addicted. If you can’t get what you want, you’ll take what you can get,”

Across the country this epidemic is playing out, it started with prescription painkillers being loosely prescribed and creating addicts.  Then as slightly more regulation was brought in to curb the amount of the painkillers prescribed or to prevent the way they could be used, the addict was already hooked.  So while some areas of the country are seeing less prescription painkiller use, there are many areas seeing increased heroin addictions or heroin overdoses.

The post Heroin in the Suburbs first appeared on Home Health Testing.

The drug is closely regulated and doctors must be approved in order to prescribe it, in 2005 there were only 5,656 physicians certified to prescribe Suboxone for the treatment of addiction to opiates. The 2010 data is now available and there are now 18,582 certified physicians prescribing Buprenorphine and the number of patients receiving it has risen from 100,000 in 2005 to 800,000 in 2010.

The sharp rise in the use of Buprenorphine has also had its impact on Emergency Department visits involving the drug, see this chart provided by SAMHSA Drug Abuse Warning Network

Emergency Department (ED) Visits Involving Buprenorphine: 2005 to 2010

While many of those visits were from patients seeking substance abuse treatment or having a drug reaction or interaction, a full 52% or 15,778 of those visits were for non-medical use of the drug. Nonmedical use includes taking more than the prescribed dose of a prescription medication or, taking a prescription medication prescribed for someone else, or misusing or abusing a prescription medication.

The post Suboxone Use Grows first appeared on Home Health Testing.

Home Drug Test at Walgreens

While it may be difficult to know where to look, you can now find home drug tests in most drug stores. The drug tests are typically found around other home tests or  “Health Monitors”.  The drugstores offer multi panel drug tests that can test for four, six or twelve different drugs or a single test for Marijuana or Cocaine.

Our recent survey of CVS, Walgreens and Walmart showed that a twelve panel drug test averaged $39.41 and a Marijuana (THC) only test averaged $15.53

Drug Test Kits CVS

Why are the drug tests at the stores more expensive than the ones you can buy online?

Here is the reason:

at home drug test box

While each of these home drug tests will give you a result in five minutes, the test actually includes laboratory testing if you choose to send the urine sample to the lab.  As you can see on the box it says “laboratory testing, if necessary”.  If you use the at home drug test and get your answer in five minutes and choose not to send it to a lab, there is no refund of the included lab fees.

Before you purchase a home drug test, you need to decide if you will need lab testing.  Lab testing of a urine sample is typically used after a positive drug screen, but it is not required.  If you are using a drug test for yourself or someone else and the test is negative then you are finished.  However, if the test is positive you may want to send the urine sample to a lab so they can confirm if the test is actually positive for the drug you tested for or if it is a false positive caused from some other drug or chemical.  For example, the drug Zantac can cause a false positive on a Meth drug test.

While the drugstores averaged $15.53 for a marijuana test, over at homehealthtesting.com we sell a marijuana drug test for $1.90.  The test we sell is manufactured by the same company that sells the more expensive tests in stores, however it does not include the lab testing fees.  Some people believe the tests in the drug store are more expensive because they are more reliable and that is not true.  The truth is those tests include lab testing that you may not even use.

When looking for a home drug test, look for a test that is FDA cleared and it should clearly state the accuracy level of the test since it is required for the FDA approval.  If you get a positive result on a urine drug test, you can always take that urine sample to drug testing lab in your own town and get the lab confirmation, but you don’t have to pay for that service until you need it.

You can rely on the quality of the cheap drug tests you find online, if they are FDA cleared.  In drug testing, don’t be fooled with the “you get what you pay for attitude” and don’t pay for something you don’t need.

The post Where to get a home drug test? first appeared on Home Health Testing.