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OHS Health & Safety Services, Inc.-  Article

"WHAT EVERY PARENT SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DRUG-ABUSE IN AMERICA!"
(A primer for the uninformed or misinformed!)
Copyright © 1999, 2000 OHS, Inc.  All rights reserved.

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1) How big is America's drug problem?  BIG!  The U.S. Government reports that 9.7 million Americans used marijuana and 1.9 million used cocaine in the last month.  Heroin use by secondary grade students roughly doubled between 1991 and 1995 and remained steady through 2000.  The use of the "rave" party drug "Ecstasy" was up by as much as 55.6% over 1998 and it is killing more and more of our children every year! (Source: "Monitoring the Future" national survey of 45,300 students in 433 secondary schools.)  

2) What are schools and parents doing about the drug problem?  Many schools are implementing one or more of the following: anti-drug abuse policies; comprehensive drug-abuse education and drug awareness programs; drug testing programs.  Many parents are beginning to frequently drug test their children as a preventive measure, in effect, giving them another excuse to say, “No!” to drugs and to their peers who try to push drugs on them.

 3) Is drug testing accurate?  Yes, when done properly.  The typical procedure is a two-step process in which a urine sample (specimen) is divided in half, and the first half is tested using a relatively simple, inexpensive, yet highly accurate test (usually an “immunoassay”).  If the result of that initial test is "negative" the lab will report the test as "negative" and no additional testing will be performed on that specimen.  On the other hand, if the result of the first test is “positive”, then a second test is conducted on the second half of the original sample using a different testing process that serves to "confirm" whether or not the first analysis was accurate.  

This second (“confirmatory”) test is performed using a more sophisticated and more expensive technique such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) or thin-layer chromatography (TLC).  Only if both halves of a specimen show up “positive” by these two separate testing methods (and using portions of the same urine) is it then reported as a “positive” by the lab.  The first test (by immunoassay) is 97-99% accurate, while the second test (by GC/MS or TLC) is virtually 100.00% accurate from a scientific standpoint.  Because of this Industry-standard, two-step, "fail-safe" process, the lab's report of the specimen as "positive" (AFTER a second, confirmatory test) will - virtually 100% of the time - be upheld in a Court of Law if the person who was tested should choose to try and legally "challenge" that result.

4) But can’t you “beat” a drug test?  Yes, you "can", but the odds against it are very long and getting longer all the time.  The opportunity for adulteration or substitution generally is limited by the integrity of the collection and testing process, and at any rate is detectable in most cases at the laboratory.  The increasing popularity of “on-site” specimen collection, too, has greatly contributed to the reduction of specimen adulteration or substitution by donors attempting to cheat the system. (Click here to read a separate article, "Cheating on Drug Tests:  Does it Work?")

 5) What about “false positives”?  Most of the popular stories about " things" that falsely trigger a “positive” drug-test result are based on misconceptions.  These " things" normally either:
   
Don’t show up at all (e.g., “second-hand” marijuana smoke does NOT trigger a positive)
Are not detected at a sufficient level to produce a false positive (e.g., a normal amount of ingested poppy seeds will NOT trigger a positive for "opiates")
Are easily distinguishable as "false" in the laboratory

Some activities, such as a non-pot-smoker being sealed in a phone booth with four marijuana smokers who smoke pot non-stop for eight hours, "might" trigger a false positive, but for most people this scenario does not even come close to being a valid concern.  What does occasionally happen to cause a positive, though, is properly used prescription medicines or some other legitimate justification for testing “positive” on a drug test.  This is where the Medical Review Officer (MRO) becomes invaluable in the process of “confirming” lab positives.  The MRO speaks directly with the employee involved.  The MRO gives the tested individual a chance to prove (e.g., by presenting a prescription) that the drugs found in their system were legitimately prescribed.  In such cases where proof is presented, then, the individual (although found " positive" by the lab test) will - instead - be officially (and correctly) reported by the MRO as "negative" on their drug test.

6) Is drug testing legal?  There are some restrictions in a few states, but employers and schools generally have a right to establish a written drug testing policy that requires employees and students be drug free – not possess or use drugs - while on the job, at school, or while participating in or attending job or school related activities.  For an outline of drug-testing laws in all 50 U.S. States plus all U.S. Territories, click here.

7) How common is drug testing?  In 1983, only 3% of the Fortune 200 companies were testing one or more classes of job applicants or employees.  By 1991, that number had climbed to 97%.   More and more school districts, too, are beginning to drug test students, especially athletes, since the July 1995 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found such testing of students was/is “legal”.

 8) But is it any school’s business what a student does in the privacy of his or her own home on a Saturday night?  First, there is no Constitutional or other legally protected right to engage in illegal conduct in the privacy of one’s own home or anyone else’s.  Second, as a parent, it IS (or should be) YOUR business.  Third, you easily see the effects when “straight” students begin using drugs: more frequent illness and absences, dropping grades, “trouble” with teachers, other students, parents.

(This article is continued in Part 2- CLICK HERE)

To continue with PART 2 (the end) of this article...Click here  

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