Agencies developing better tests
USA Today 15th February 2000By Nelba ChavezEffective workplace drug testing is an essential part of our national strategy to reduce substance abuse and ensure public safety at work, at play, in travel and in our homes.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, along with the Department of Transportation, other government agencies and private industry, are working together to develop new and improved methods for workplace drug testing. To balance public health and safety with protection for individual rights, the government also must make sure these tests are accurate, reliable, correctly interpreted and fair.
Rigorous federal drug-testing standards are crucial for the 25 million workers tested each year under the federal Health and Human Services mandatory guidelines, including 8.3 million people in jobs regulated by DOT. They are also important for the 30,000 drug-testing collection sites and the 18,000 medical review officers who are focused on getting every workplace drug test right.
Would-be cheaters have found it increasingly difficult to succeed because of improvements made to our screening tools. For example, in the past, there were different opinions among forensic laboratory professionals on what standards to use in testing urine specimens for adulteration. In 1998, working with DOT to eliminate this confusion, we issued standard criteria for determining and reporting the intentional use of a substance specifically to defeat a drug test.
Today, all 68 of our certified laboratories use these guidelines and perform adulteration/dilution testing. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and DOT are committed to making it even more difficult for cheaters in the future by quickly identifying new adulterants as soon as they appear and by validating new testing technologies.
Careful research is under way to improve testing technologies and identify alternative specimens, including hair, saliva, sweat and on-site screening devices. Recommendations for these tests are already under development. Our goal is ultimately to convince all Americans to avoid illicit drugs, and for current drug users to stop or seek treatment - if they want to get or keep a job.
Nelba Chavez is administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.