NEW YORK - Employers are catching more workers using methamphetamine, but the drug's spread into the workplace appears to have slowed considerably, a new study finds. Employers who screen job applicants and workers for drugs saw the number testing positive for amphetamines increase by 6 percent last year. Positive tests for methamphetamine, one of two stimulants in that class of drugs, increased by 3 percent, according to a report released Monday by Quest Diagnostics Inc. The figures are based on the results of 7.2 million workplace drug tests conducted in 2004 by Teterboro, N.J.-based Quest, one of the country's largest drug screening firms. [continues 176 words]
NEW YORK -- Employers are catching more workers using methamphetamine, but the drug's spread into the workplace appears to have slowed considerably, a new study finds. Employers who screen job applicants and workers for drugs saw the number testing positive for amphetamines increase by 6 percent last year. Positive tests for methamphetamine, one of two stimulants in that class of drugs, increased by 3 percent, according to a report released Monday by Quest Diagnostics Inc. The figures are based on the results of 7.2 million workplace drug tests conducted in 2004 by Quest, one of the country's largest drug-screening firms. [continues 176 words]
PHILADELPHIA - Put 30 drug testing workers in a room together for a few hours and it isn't long before they start trading strange -- and somewhat indelicate -- tales of urine collection. Stories of specimens doctored to the most vivid hues of blue, green and purple, and others spiked with bleach or diluted with chewing tobacco. Talk of false penises, and synthetic urine formulated in separate his and hers versions. And accounts of mystery concoctions ingested or added to try to ensure that urine does not betray the drug use of its provider. [continues 797 words]
Tom Smith Lost A Job Because He Was Unable To urinate For A Spot Drug Test. Tom Smith worried he was in for trouble last November, when a supervisor pulled the assembly-line worker aside and told him to report to the nurse's station. There, with a plastic specimen cup in hand, 40 ounces of water sloshing inside him and the nurse waiting expectantly, Smith says he spent three hours straining to do what most people barely think about. When the time allotted for the random drug test was finished, the cup was empty, and Smith was out of a job. [continues 830 words]
Employee testing program to be overhauled NEW YORK - The federal government is planning to overhaul its employee drug testing program to include scrutiny of workers' hair, saliva and sweat, a shift that could spur more businesses to revise screening for millions of their own workers. The planned changes, long awaited by the testing industry, reflect government efforts to be more precise in its drug screening and to outmaneuver a small but growing subset of workers who try to cheat on urine-based tests. [continues 478 words]
Private employers may be next NEW YORK - The federal government is planning to overhaul its employee drug-testing program to include scrutiny of workers' hair, saliva and sweat, a shift that could spur more private businesses to revise screening for millions of their own workers. The planned changes, long awaited by the testing industry, reflect government efforts to be more precise in its drug screening and to outmaneuver a small but growing subset of workers who try to cheat on urine-based tests. [continues 697 words]
Employees' Hair, Saliva and Sweat Will Be Included in Screenings NEW YORK - The federal government is planning to overhaul its employee drug-testing program to include scrutiny of workers' hair, saliva and sweat, a shift that could spur more businesses to revise screening for millions of their own workers. The planned changes, long awaited by the testing industry, reflect government efforts to be more precise in its drug screening and to outmaneuver a small but growing subset of workers who try to cheat on urine-based tests. [continues 739 words]
NEW YORK - The federal government is planning to overhaul its employee drug testing program to include scrutiny of workers' hair, saliva and sweat, a shift that could spur more businesses to revise screening for millions of their own workers. The planned changes, long awaited by the testing industry, reflect government efforts to be more precise in its drug screening and to outmaneuver a small but growing subset of workers who try to cheat on urine-based tests. Some businesses have already adopted alternative testing, despite criticism by privacy advocates. But others have held back, partly awaiting government standards. [continues 816 words]
