cannabisnews.com: Employer Drug Testing Slows Spread of Use





Employer Drug Testing Slows Spread of Use
Posted by CN Staff on May 15, 2005 at 13:03:46 PT
By Adam Geller, Associated Press 
Source: Associated Press 
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 to be released Monday by Quest Diagnostics Inc., one of the country's largest drug screening firms.
The figures are based on the results of 7.2 million workplace drug tests conducted in 2004 by Teterboro, N.J.-based Quest."The use of amphetamines among workers continued to grow," said Barry Sample, director of science and technology for the company's workplace testing business. "However amphetamines use among workers grew at a slower pace, when compared to previous years."The limited increases contrasts sharply with 2003, when the number of workers testing positive for all amphetamines surged 44 percent and those failing the test for methamphetamine jumped 68 percent.The number of workers testing positive for all amphetamines rose by 16 percent in 2001 and 17 percent in 2002.The much smaller increases in workers failing tests for amphetamines last year came as the number of workers testing positive for all drugs was unchanged at 4.5 percent. The percentage of workers testing positive for drugs other than amphetamines also remained steady.Of workers who tested positive, 55 percent failed the screening for marijuana, 15 percent for cocaine and 10 percent for amphetamines.The popularity of methamphetamine has surged in recent years, prompting many states to try to limit the sales of the decongestant pseudoephedrine that is commonly used to make it. The spread of the crystalline stimulant, relatively easy to make, has been spurred in part by the growth of small, home laboratories.Drug enforcement officials have continued working to shut down labs. The Drug Enforcement Administration seized 9,655 labs last year, down from 10,280 in the previous year. The agency has shuttered an additional 1,827 labs through the first 4 1/2 months of this year.At the same time, more people appear to be seeking treatment for addiction to methamphetamine. In 2002, the most recent year for which statistics are available, admissions to drug treatment centers for methamphetamine and amphetamine abuse rose to 52 of every 100,000 patients over 12 years old, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.That is up from 10 admissions per 100,000 patients in 1992.But even as officials have worked to crack down on the manufacture and sale of the drug and encourage treatment, drug users have proven persistently creative at cheating on workplace tests. Such cheating will be the topic Tuesday of a hearing by a House of Representatives subcommittee."It's just a little too soon for us to know what it (the workplace testing data) means," said Leah Young, a spokeswoman for SAMHSA.The agency's own survey on methamphetamine usage shows little change when last compiled for 2003, with 5.7 percent of people older than 26 saying they had used the drug, the same as in the previous year. Source: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Adam Geller, Associated Press Published: May 15, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Associated Press CannabisNews Drug Testing Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/drug_testing.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by warhater on May 17, 2005 at 23:52:07 PT:
Title is not supported by the article
Nothing in this story implies that drug testing has slowed the use of Meth. The 44% increase last year as opoosed to the 6% increase this year is perfectly natural. The rate would be expected to decelerate as more of the limited pool of willing consumers use the drug. The number of positive drug tests did not go down, it went up by 6%. Once again the Mainstream media displays its math and science ignorance.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on May 16, 2005 at 07:58:11 PT
About The Drug Testing Article
Since Meth can clear from a persons system really quickly they won't find much Meth but look at the 55 percent that Marijuana shows up because it lingers in people's body for up to a month or more ( even though a person isn't under the influence ). Without Marijuana drug testing wouldn't be worth bothering with in my opinion. Leave Marijuana out of drug testing and the industry would fall apart.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on May 16, 2005 at 07:50:57 PT
Here's The Article
I thought this should be posted on the front page! This is good news! Stop spraying poison that is hurting the poor farmers and destroying their land! http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20684.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by BGreen on May 16, 2005 at 07:16:20 PT
Here's the story, potpal
America's drug plan collapses in chaosBy Hugh O'Shaughnessy15 May 2005Washington's "war on drugs" in Colombia is collapsing in chaos and corruption, and the drug producers are winning. The so-called Plan Colombia, which has cost the US more than $3bn (£1.6bn) in the past five years, is being abandoned, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced.Last year, the hugely expensive effort to poison coca bushes - whose leaves are the source of cocaine - by aerial spraying ended in failure. More bushes were flourishing in January this year than in January 2004.Meanwhile, complaints have multiplied about the damage done by the chemical poisons to the health of humans, especially children, as well as to livestock, fish and the environment.Plan Colombia was designed to eradicate narcotics, control powerful left-wing guerrillas and strengthen the position of the US military in South America. The scheme was eventually expected to cost $7.5bn.The government of Colombia, the world's principal source of cocaine, has sent out an emergency appeal to the Bush administration for an extra $130m to supplement the $600m it expects to receive in 2006 under Plan Colombia.The extra money, the Colombians insist, is needed for more aircraft to increase the government's capacity to spray poison on the jungle patches where coca bushes grow.They also want more helicopters to protect the spray planes and stop any more of them being shot down by growers and guerrillas.The appeal for emergency cash comes in the wake of the details quietly put out by the White House during the Easter holiday about last year's spraying débâcle. On 1 January 2004 US satellite pictures showed that 281,323 acres in Colombia were under coca. The target was to reduce that area by half, so nearly 340,000 acres were sprayed with poison. But in vain.In January, the acreage of coca bushes had increased slightly to 281,694 acres. Consequently, as Congressman Bob Menendez, leader of the Democratic caucus in the US lower house and a critic of Plan Colombia, remarked last week, the international price of cocaine has stubbornly refused to rise - as it would have if the anti-drugs effort had dented its availability worldwide.Corruption in Colombian government service is said by the Home Office in London to cost $4bn a year.Drug profits have also corrupted US troops stationed in Colombia. This month a US Green Beret lieutenant-colonel and a sergeant were caught selling 32,900 rounds of ammunition to the right-wing death squads who are flush with drug profits.In March, five US soldiers - supposedly training local troops in anti-guerrilla and anti-narcotics techniques - were arrested after 16 kilos of cocaine were found in the aircraft taking them from a military base in southern Colombia back to the US. 
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Comment #5 posted by potpal on May 16, 2005 at 07:11:39 PT
columbia plan bust
Link doesn't come up, well, its a subscription service. Can we get the gist?
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Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on May 16, 2005 at 05:53:22 PT
nothing of the kind
There is a news story this morning stating that their is widespread use of meth on the job and the drug testing is not working. People circumvent the tests by cheating. no surprise.
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on May 16, 2005 at 03:00:47 PT
Yes!!!
"Plan Columbia" is being abandoned...America's drug plan collapses in chaos:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=638590
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on May 15, 2005 at 17:10:39 PT
History
No mention of the fact that meth is regularly used by the military. No mention of the fact that meth use was totally legal and widespread until what, 30 years ago?Ignorance of history makes the masses so much easier to control. One of the many advantages of dumbing down the average citizen.
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Comment #1 posted by Hope on May 15, 2005 at 16:44:26 PT
Human dignity sold out
Not news at all. A press release by the drug testing company promoting drug testing. 
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