Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jan 2016
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2016 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Dave Segal

COCAINE USE BY ISLE WORKERS DOUBLES

Cocaine use in the workplace doubled in the fourth quarter from the 
year-earlier period while marijuana still remained the drug of choice.

Among employees and job applicants tested for drugs, 0.4 percent 
tested positive for cocaine during the final three months of the 
year, according to a report Tuesday by Honolulu-based Diagnostic 
Laboratory Services Inc. That's up from 0.3 percent in the third 
quarter and double the 0.2 percent who tested positive for the drug 
in the fourth quarter of 2014.

DLS did not report the exact number of those tested, but said its 
quarterly sample size typically includes between 7,000 and 10,000 drug tests.

Marijuana use declined to 2.3 percent of employees in the fourth 
quarter compared with 2.5 percent in the year-earlier period. Hawaii 
use of the drug closely tracks the mainland's 2014 rate of 2.4 percent.

The use of methamphetamine, or "ice," continued to be a big problem 
in Hawaii with 0.7 percent of the workers and applicants testing 
positive during the fourth quarter. That is about four times the 0.17 
percent average ice use found in workforce drug testing in 2014 on 
the mainland. Methamphetamine use last quarter in Hawaii, however, 
did decline from 0.9 percent in the year-earlier quarter.

Synthetic urine use remained the same at 0.8 percent in the fourth 
quarters of 2015 and 2014, while opiate use declined to 0.3 percent 
from 0.4 percent in the year-earlier period.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom