Drug Testing in the Workplace
Workplace Drug Testing Employee Rights and Concerns (Cont.)
Part 3 of 4 is below. Drug detection times are on page
5, while drug testing cutoff levels are on page
6.
Drugs Screened in a Workplace Drug Test
Most of the illegal drugs and optionally, alcohol and several
commonly-abused prescription medications, are screened during
workplace drug testing. See Workplace
Drug Testing Cutoff Levels for lists.
Drug Detection Time in a Workplace Drug Test
Drugs or the resulting chemical changes (metabolites) stay
in your body for some time after use, without intervention.
How long after drug use that a test can detect it, is called drug
detection time.
Drug detection time depends on a variety of variables. But, drug
detection time estimates have been worked out by the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a division of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Results of Passive Drug Use for a Workplace Drug Test
Passive drug use is innocent, unintentional use.
For example, incidentally inhaling ambient marijuana smoke
at a rock concert is passive use, as is accidentally absorbing
a drug through the skin, such as by a handling dollar bill
that someone else rolled up to snort cocaine. The same goes
for ingesting poppy seeds, which can falsely test positive
for opiates.
But, you have little to worry about. Passive drug-user specimens
typically measure well below the cutoff levels that trigger
failing drug test results. For example, passive inhalation
of marijuana smoke measures at about 5 ng/ml in a urine specimen,
which is well below the typical, 50 ng/ml cutoff level in
an initial test. See Workplace
Drug Testing Cutoff Levels for more information.
Results of Prescription Medications for a Workplace Drug
Test
Although workplace drug testing procedures typically account
for it, valid use of a prescription medication still might
trigger positive test results for a commonly-abused drug,
depending on the medication. For example, a prescription
pain reliever that includes the narcotic codeine or morphine,
might cause you to fail workplace drug testing for opiates.
So, be sure to tell your "testers" if you are
taking one or more medications prescribed by a doctor. Also
make sure they put it in writing, if they don't give you
the opportunity.
If you fail a drug test solely because you're taking a valid
prescription medication that you're not abusing, but your
employer disciplines you for it anyway, you might have grounds
for a lawsuit. That's especially true under the American's
with Disabilities Act. Consult a lawyer about
that.
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Drug Testing Employee Rights and Concerns (Cont.)
Drug Testing in the Workplace > 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
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