Research Triangle Park, NC: Many private companies that perform drug tests on employees and/or potential applicants fail to confirm positive test results at a certified lab or have the results reviewed by a medical review officer, according to report published this week by The Washington Post. Such review procedures are necessary to weed out instances where the initial positive result is either a “false positive” (a case where a legally ingested substance tests positive as an illegal substance) or is the result of the subject’s use of a valid prescription drug.
Because confirmation testing is more expensive to perform than the initial drug screen, a variety of which are available in kits and sold in pharmacies over-the-counter, a growing number of small and medium-size private companies are forgoing it in favor of cheaper, less reliable testing procedures.
“In a nutshell, non-regulated employers feel that it’s fast and cheap to screen applicants themselves” using over-the-counter drug tests, said Ted Shults, chairman of the American Association of Medical Review Officers. “[T]hat does not provide the applicant any safeguards.”
Under federal drug testing guidelines, all positive drug screens must be confirmed by a certified laboratory and a medical review officer. However, those guidelines may change imminently, as the US Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently proposed allowing federal agencies to use non-FDA approved drug testing devices such as hair tasting and saliva testing to screen for drug use among federal employees.
For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Allen St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation at (202) 483-5500.