Pubdate: Sun, 25 Feb 2007
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Copyright: 2007 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.starbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/196
Author: Helen Altonn
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DRUG-TEST BILL PREFERS SALIVA OVER URINE JAR

A Carpenters Union Spokesman Likes The Idea For On-Site Safety

Saliva could replace urine as a means of testing for  drugs in the 
construction industry if a measure moving  through the Legislature is approved.

Building and union representatives at a Senate  Judiciary and Labor 
Committee hearing yesterday  strongly supported the Senate Bill 1636 
SD1 "to ensure  workplace safety."

State Health Department, Diagnostic Laboratory Services  and Clinical 
Laboratories of Hawaii representatives  cited many concerns about 
saliva drug testing.

Judiciary and Labor Chairman Clayton Hee, 
(D,  Kahuku-Laie-Kaaawa-Kaneohe), said he expects to advance  the 
measure with some amendments suggested by the  Health Department.

He said he has "very strong feelings when it comes to  drug abuse and 
drug abuse in the workplace." But he  said "the least-invasive and 
least-humiliating" testing  method should be available.

He said he has arranged to bring a machine here on a  trial basis 
that measures people's eyes to detect drug  use.

Other states are using the machine in the courts and it  could be 
used in Hawaii's Judiciary, especially for  Circuit Judge Steve Alm's 
Project HOPE, Hee said.

Alm started Hawaii's Opportunity for Probation with  Enforcement last 
year to try to prevent convicted  criminals on probation from using 
drugs and going back  to prison.

Ronald Taketa, testifying for 7,500 members of the  Hawaii Carpenters 
Union, Local 745, and 220 contractors  statewide, said on-site saliva 
drug testing "would be a  tremendous leap forward in fighting 
substance abuse and  related injury in Hawaii's construction industry."

He said Hawaii Carpenters was the first trade union in  Hawaii to 
have a drug testing policy for members.  "There is nothing we value 
more than safety on a union  project," he said, adding it affects the 
well-being of  members and the cost and profitability of building projects.

Gerard Sakamoto, S & M Sakamoto Inc. president, said  urinalysis 
testing "is expensive for employers,  stressful for workers and can 
easily be manipulated by  those who want to 'beat the test.'

"We need a better and more affordable alternative to  ensure 
workplace safety," he said. On-site or "instant"  oral fluid drug 
screens are widely used on the West  Coast and "have become a 
cost-effective detection and  deterrence tool to keep job sites safe," he said.

Laurence Lau, state Health Department deputy director,  said saliva 
tests have not been approved by the Food  and Drug Administration. 
Also, they might not work for  marijuana use, presenting a "false 
sense of security,"  he said.

Among suggested changes, the agency asked that only  FDA- or Health 
Department-approved test kits be used  for drug screening and that a 
urine or blood specimen  be collected within two hours after a 
positive saliva  test and sent to a state-licensed laboratory for confirmation.

Carl Linden of Diagnostic Laboratory Services and  Clifford Wong of 
Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii cited  many scientific and legal 
issues with saliva-testing  devices.

Linden urged that the bill be held until there are  federal standards 
or scientific agreement on the  efficacy of saliva tests.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom