state law does not permit lab-based oral fluid testing, outside of that voluntary law, it would be permited. Tere are certain drug testing “best
practices” that apply to POCT just as they would to lab-based testing. For instance, if a screen is positive, it should be confirmed at a laboratory via GC/MS or an equivalent technology, and then verified by a medical review officer. Also, if a state requires that certain collection procedures be used, unless expressly stated otherwise, those requirements would apply to POCT programs. Te same can be said for results reporting—some states require results to be made available within a certain number of days, and in writing. Tese requirements are likely to also apply to a POCT program.
Te Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA) is in the process of establishing guidelines to permit the use of lab-based oral fluid testing in federal government programs. DOT has signaled that it, too, will revise its regulations to permit lab-based oral fluid drug testing (oral fluid alcohol testing is already permited by DOT). When this happens, it will be the most significant change to the federal regulations in many years. When considering other “alternative” testing methods, could POCT urine testing be next? It may be some time before that happens, but the technology has come a long way in the past several years—and many employers, criminal justice organizations, treatment centers, and hospitals already depend on it. ❚
Bill Current is the President and Founding Partner of The Current Consulting Group, and a 25-year veteran in the drug testing industry. He is the former director of the Institute
for a Drug-Free Workplace, Executive Director of the American Council for Drug Education, and Vice President of Consulting for Employee Information Services. Author of 10 books on substance abuse-related issues, and a pre- senter at hundreds of conferences, seminars, workshops and webinars, he is widely consid- ered one of the leading experts on drug testing and on the drug testing industry. He publishes the popular On-Line Ultimate Guide to State Drug Testing Laws at StateDrugTestingLaws. com and conducts the Annual Drug Testing Industry Survey, now in its sixteenth year.
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