WASHINGTON REPORT BY LINDA WILSON, DATIA
According to the data, marijuana use in the workforce climbed 10% last year to 2.3% according to an analysis of 10 million urine, saliva and hairs samples.
Trucking Alliance
continues press for drug testing reforms
Te Trucking Alliance, a coalition of some of the country’s largest trucking companies, again on June 12, 2019 called for stricter drug testing for applicants for truck driving jobs, as well as a mandate for speed limiters in heavy trucks and a prohibition on under-21 drivers operating interstate. In comments filed to the House’s
Transportation and Infrastructure Commitee, as it begins preliminary prep work on the next federal highway bill, the Alliance said that urine tests—the standard test required by the U.S. DOT for driver applicants—fail to properly screen applicants for drug use. Te group pointed to new data on the
subject to back up its point. In a survey conducted of more than 150,000 applicants, in which those applicants were screened for drug use via both a urine analysis test and a hair sample test, the Alliance contends that urine tests missed nearly 9 out of 10 drug users. Whereas 949 applicants failed a urine sample test, out of the 151,662 applicants, hair sample tests yielded positive tests for 8,878 applicants. “Te survey results are compelling evidence that thousands of habitual drug users are skirting a system designed to prohibit drug use in transportation,” the Alliance contends. Further, the group insists that, if extrapolated industry wide, the numbers would equate to about 300,000 drivers who would have failed a drug test under hair sample testing. For the full article please visit htps://
www.ccjdigital.com/trucking-alliance- continues-press-for-drug-testing-reforms/ Te nation’s largest drug testing laboratory,
Quest Diagnostics, recently released its latest data on the the number of workers and job applicants who tested positive for drugs in the U.S. workforce. According to the data, marijuana use in the workforce climbed 10% last year to 2.3% according to an analysis of 10 million urine, saliva and hairs samples. As a result, employers are looking for guidance
26 datia focus
on how to best address the marijuana issue as more states legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational use. Te Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index
(DTI) reports on trends in drug usage by three segments of the U.S. workforce: workers who are federally mandated to undergo drug testing, safety sensitive workers, and the general workforce. Based on positive testing results from a sample of 10 million workplace drug tests, Quest’s 2019 reports show an upward trend in marijuana usage among the U.S. workforce, Including workers in safety sensitive positions. Among the results, the testing data established that: • Te rate of drug positivity among workers hit a 14 year high in 2018.
• Marijuana was one of the most “commonly detected illicit substances across all workforce categories with the highest positivity rate of all drug classes across the majority of industry sectors.”
• Positive test results for marijuana relating to workers in safety sensitive and federally mandated testing occupations rose nearly 5% from 2017 (.84%) to 2018 (.88%) and nearly 24% since 2014 (.71%).
• It’s been reported that “4.7% of samples sent to Quest in 2018 aſter an accident came back positive for potentially illicit drugs, up from 3.1%” in 2017. Te primary psychoactive component
in marijuana is tetrahydrocannibus (THC) which is stored in the faty tissue of the body and is released over a period of time from hours to weeks. Levels and length of impairment from ingestion of THC vary depending on a variety of factors such as the strain of the cannabis products and the individual’s ability to metabolize the drug. Impairment can affect various cognitive and physical functions including short-term memory, ability to process and analyze information, ability to concentrate, delayed reaction time, and altered sensory perception. At the federal level, marijuana is listed
as a schedule 1 drug defined as having “a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical
summer 2019
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