Casual drug use has no significant impact on employment status and therefore should not be the focus of workplace drug testing programs, according to a study published this week in the Southern Economic Journal.
“Nonchronic drug use was not significantly related to employment or labor force participation,” researchers at University of Miami’s Health Services Research Center found. “These findings suggest that workplace policies for illicit drug use should consider chronic or problem drug users apart from light or casual users.”
Authors did conclude that chronic illicit drug use contributed negatively to workplace performance. They suggested that ideal workplace drug testing procedures should focus chiefly on problem users similar to the way many offices differentiate between casual drinkers and alcoholics. According to the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), seventy percent of illicit drug users age 18 to 49 are employed full time.
The Miami study is one of several calling into question the effectiveness of standard drug testing programs – primarily urinalysis – that detect the presence of nonpsychoactive drug metabolites (mostly for marijuana), but not impairment.
A 1994 study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded, “If an organization’s goal is to avoid work decrement (e.g. accidental injuries, performance level) due to impairment, then research should be conducted on the utility of performance tests prior to starting work as an alternative to alcohol and other drug tests.” Researchers further added, “Despite beliefs to the contrary, … [there exists] no evidence from properly controlled studies that employment drug testing programs widely discourage drug use or encourage rehabilitation.”
In addition, a 1998 study by the Le Moyne College Institute of Industrial Relations of 63 “high-tech” firms found that pre-employment and random drug screening procedures resulted in a significant loss of worker productivity and appeared to create “a negative work environment” for employees.
Recent drug testing data compiled by Quest Diagnostics indicate that more than 60 percent of all positive workplace drug tests are for marijuana only. Because urine tests detect a metabolized by-product of marijuana and not the drug itself, pot-smokers may test positive days or even weeks after using it. By comparison, cocaine – the second most commonly detected drug – typically will wash out of the system within 48 hours.
An abstract of the study may be read online at: http://www.okstate.edu/economics/journal/south1.html.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.
