About Drug Tests

Drug testing is a key in the job recruitment process. A drug test is a procedure in which a person is screened for any foreign substances in his system. The test looks for particular chemicals associated with certain types of drugs, both illegal drugs and often abused legal drugs. Normally urine, hair or saliva is gathered; however, sometimes blood is used as well.

History of

Federal drug testing began after the Reagan administration enacted that federal employees are banned from abusing illegal drugs and substances in certain regulated jobs. During the late 1980s, drug testing became more common in applying for a job. Employers usually tested for drugs in five basic categories: cannabinoids, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and phencyclidine.

Features

The test for cannabinoids is used to detect the use of marijuana or hashish. This test looks for traces of the metabolite THC. The cocaine test obviously tests for cocaine and cocaine-related substances. The amphetamines drug test looks for evidence of amphetamines and methamphetamine (crystal meth). The opiates category is for opium and its deratives including heroin, codeine, morphine and others. Phenacyclidine is the test for PHP. Over the years tests for other drugs have been developed, including some legal pharmaceutical drugs that are often abused. These include synthetic pain killers such as OxyContin (oxycodone) and the benzodiazepines group, which includes Valium, Xanax, Klonopin and others.

Type

Drug tests can be conducted with a person's blood, urine, saliva, hair, toenails--and to some extent even sweat. Urine testing is the most common, and the results can be obtained on the spot by using test cards or more advanced processes like gas chromatography. Hair testing is conducted by examining the newly grown hair shafts, which drugs are layered upon. It is sometimes much more accurate than urine testing. Blood testing involves the examination of the plasma for foreign insoluble particles and radicals that resemble the substances from the drugs. Each type of test has a detection period for each particular group of drugs. For example, a urine test can detect light use of marijuana within the last week and prolonged use of marijuana within the last three months. A blood test can detect marijuana use within the last 12 days. However, a hair test can show any marijuana use in the lifetime of the hair.

Risk Factors

The biggest risk in using drug tests as part of pre-employment screeening is false positive results. A false positive can occur for several reasons. Certain over-the-ounter medications and some foods may trigger a false positive. This makes it look like the person has been using drugs when he actually has not. Another risk factor is that sometimes these drug tests are too general. Every person's body is different, so a false positive may ring up even when drugs haven't been used at all. For example, if the person's body releases a higher than normal concentration of natural endorphins, there is a chance that he might test positive. This may happen because the chemical structures of opiates, such as morphine or heroin, are quite similar to endorphins.

Significance

Drug tests have widely affected job candidates, employees and employers. Employers have the right to conduct drug tests at the beginning of the employment process as well as during employment. This brings up many debates. Some people feel that an employer shouldn't be able to fire an employee or not hire a candidate for recreational drug use outside the workplace. These people feel that if a person is not on drugs while actually at work, then it's a violation of privacy. Though this continues to be a hot topic, employers can and do have the ability to use drug tests in their hiring and firing decisions. Also, drug tests are not just being used in employment situations. At home, drug tests are now available at most pharmacies in the United States. Parents are often using these drug tests to determine if their teenagers are using drugs.

Resources

• Find out more about drug screening from the Department of Labor.
• Get drug testing news and information