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A Little Hint on The Merits And Demerits of Workplace Drug Testing
Jan 2nd
Are you becoming a slave to the painkillers day by day? Can you notice the painkiller addiction symptoms in yourself? If that is so it is time for you to take some serious steps so that you can get out of this addiction as soon as possible because this addiction can ruin your life. Moreover, the fact is that these days most of the companies and the employers are in favor of conducting drug test on their employees and because of that during these tests if you are found to be positive to painkiller addiction it can be a serious trouble in your life. Therefore, it is better to take serious steps in time so that you may not have to suffer these problems in future. Moreover, one of the most interesting fact in relation to this is that is there are many people who are still unaware of the fact that they are gradually becoming a slave to these prescription drugs. A very common fact about this matter is that we often use these medicines without consulting the doctor. Even there are some cases where once the doctor has prescribed a painkiller for some reason or the other the patient continues the doses at their will without even thinking of the aftermath. Therefore, because of these reasons these people get addicted to these prescription drugs without even knowing what it can result to.
Therefore, though conducting drug tests at the workplace is almost like an invasion on the privacy of the individuals it can be justified on the part of the employers as it is obvious that the employers would always want the best performance from their employees. Therefore, by conducting drug tests at the workplace they can at least know the state of their employees. Even this is helpful for the employees too as at least because of this fear of drug tests at their workplace people would become somewhat conscious about using these prescription drugs without the prescription of the doctor. Thus this awareness can be of great help on the part of the employees too.
The fear of testing positive to drugs makes a lot of people think about their use of prescription drugs on a regular basis as there always remains the threat of losing the job if he or she is tested positive to some specific drugs may it be illegal drugs or prescription drug.
On the other hand these drug tests at the workplace has its effects on the reverse side also. And the situation may be that a person really needs a particular drug intake on the prescription of the doctor. But he or she is not willing to reveal it to anybody else. In such cases there are always the detoxifying products available for specific drug use. As this is a common fact that whenever a drug test is conducted it is going to reveal a lot of things other than finding out the presence of drugs in the body. This is really a big problem and the employers should be aware of this fact and keep the findings of the drug test a secret.
Importance of Corporate Drug Testing
Jan 2nd
Drug testing is becoming important in the organizations, as more than fifty percent of the world’s illicit drugs are consumed in United States. Random corporate drug testing is becoming a regular activity unlike earlier, when questions were raised about the employee privacy. Corporate drug testing is mainly done at two situations- Pre-employment drug testing and Post-accident drug testing.
Pre-employment drug testing
Pre-employment drug testing is used to test the drug abuse of the job aspirants before they join the organization. This is vital because, by conducting pre-employment drug testing, the organization can filter out all the job aspirants who tested positive for a drug test. This could help the organization to create a drug free work environment that will result in enhancing productivity of the employees and the organization as a whole.
Post-accident drug testing
Being under the influence of drugs at work place is one of the major reasons for the work place accidents. Post-accident drug testing is required when an employee is involved in an accident and his/her ability to avoid that is questioned. Post-accident drug testing reveals whether an employee is under the influence of drugs or not while the accident took place.
Random corporate drug testing
Random drug testing is the most effective format of drug testing that avoids the suspect to adopt any foul techniques to bypass the drug test. The objective of a random drug test is deterrence to drug abuse. The threat of resulting positive to drug abuse at work could lead to the termination of the job will prompt the employees to stop abusing drugs.
Random drug tests will discourage the employees to abuse drugs at least while they are at the work place. This will help in avoiding major accidents, improving productivity, and maintaining healthier work environment.
Every year, the costs to U.S. employers spend more than $140 billion on drug abuse at work place related issues, as 77% of all drug abusers are employed, and eight to ten percent of workers in any company abuse drugs, according to DEA. These statistics sense the urgency of efficient organizational drug testing that could be possible by random drug testing.
Types of Methamphetamine Drug Testing
Jan 2nd
Although Methamphetamine, also called ‘Meth’, has limited medicinal uses but it can also cause addiction. Methamphetamine targets the Central Nervous System and causes release of neurotransmitter Dopamine and Norepinephrine. “Meth” causes euphoric feeling, intense emotion, and loss of appetite, empathy, euphoria, mood changes, and psychotic aggressive behavior. There are various types of drug testing to detect Methamphetamine in the body.
Urine Drug Testing:
Urine drug testing kits are reliable and accurate method of testing a person for drug use. The Urine Drug Testing kits are inexpensive and flexible. Through this type of drug testing, it is possible to test many different drugs in different combinations. Meth gets into the urine about 2-5 hrs after consumption and can be detected in urine even 3-5 days after use. There are also tests by which you can test ‘Meth’ along with other drugs, which tests Meth in addition to other drugs. You can test for Methamphetamine abuse by taking a urine sample in a clean container and then immersing the Meth test in the container and waiting for five minutes. The results are displayed after short while. Urine drug tests usually come in three different forms: ‘dip’ form, ‘cassette’ form, or ‘cup’ form. In dip form, the tests are dipped in urine sample to get traces of Methamphetamines. In the cassette form, few drops of sample are dropped on the cassette using a pipette. In the cup form tests, the cup in which the urine sample is collected tests the specimen and provides results.
Hair Drug Testing:
The Hair drug testing method is an easy and highly accurate way of knowing the drug abuse history of up to 90 days. In this type of drug testing, small samples of hair is collected from the person and send to laboratory for analysis. One has to wait for the drug to grow out from the root of the hair. In case of head hair, this takes around one week time. While in case of body hair, it grows more slowly and waiting period is large. It is impossible to tamper with hair to alter the results of a hair drug test. It is because the laboratory evaluates how much of a particular drug’s molecules are embedded in the hair shaft. A head hair can provide drug abuse history of past 90 days while a body hair can provide drug abuse history of last one year. A hair drug test can test up to six to seven drugs like marijuana, cocaine, opiates, methamphetamines, ecstasy, PCP, and amphetamines. Hair testing is more expensive than urine testing; however, it is up to 10 times more accurate than standard urine tests.
Saliva Drug Testing:
This type of testing is faster, reliable, convenient, and simple to know whether a person is currently high on Methamphetamine or has taken it in the past one day. It is only through saliva drug testing that we can ascertain whether the person is currently high. One of the significant points of saliva drug tests are that a saliva drug test can tell you if someone has used drugs as recently as 5-10 minutes. Drugs like Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Amphetamine can be detected within 5-10 minutes after its administration. The saliva drug testing method is also easy and simple and does not cause any embarrassment as in the case of urine drug test. Methamphetamines can also be detected 10 minutes after its use to up to 72 hrs after use. A saliva drug tests can detect smaller amounts of a particular drug than a urine test can.
These various drug-testing techniques are simple and easy to perform to help check abuse of Methamphetamine among young people, teenagers, and employees. These techniques are useful to ensure better and healthy life of people.
Drug Testing And Detection Periods of Commonly Abused Drugs
Jan 2nd
There are various methods to check for drug abuse by an individual. Various testing methods like urine test, saliva test, hair test, sweat test are done to identify whether or not a specific drug or metabolite (substance formed after processing in body) is present in body. The time after last drug consumption for which the drug as metabolite can be detected is called the drug detection period. The range of detection periods depend on amount and frequency of drug use, type of drug, metabolic rate, body mass, age, sex, and overall health.
The five most commonly abused drugs are Marijuana, Cocaine, Opiates (Heroin, Morphine, and Codeine), Amphetamines (Amphetamine, Methamphetamine), and Phencyclidine (PCP). Misusing metabolites of all these drugs also considered as drug abuse. In addition, misusing prescription drugs like Opioids also considered as drug abuse.
Urine Drug Testing:
The detection period for drug abuse depends on the pH level of the urine sample. The detection period of Marijuana is 2-3 days for single use and 12 days for chronic abuse. For Cocaine, it is 2-4 days (it may vary if there are any kidney disorders). The detection period for opiate drugs like Heroin, Morphine, and Codeine is 2-4 days. The detection period for Amphetamine and Methamphetamine is 2-4 days and 3-5 days respectively. The detection period of Phencyclidine (PCP) is 7-14 days for single use and 30 days for chronic abuse.
The detection period of Cannabis is 2 to 7 days for single use and 1 to 2 years for prolonged use. The detection period for Phenobarbital and Methadone is 7 to 14 days and 3-5 days respectively. The detection period for Barbiturates (except Phenobarbital) and Cotinine is 2-3 days and 2-4 days respectively. The detection period for LSD is 2-24 hours. The detection period for Ecstasy (MDMA) is 1-3 days.
Hair Drug testing:
The detection period for drugs is dependent on the length of the hair sample. The detection period for Marijuana is approximately 90 days as it is less sensitive compared to other drugs. The detection period for Cocaine is upto 90 days. The detection period for opiate drugs Heroin, Morphine, and Codeine is 90 days. The detection period of Amphetamine and Methamphetamine is 90 days. The detection period for Phencyclidine (PCP) is 90 days.
The detection period for Cannabis is 2 to 7 days for single use and 1 to 2 years for prolonged use. The detection period for Phenobarbital, Barbiturates, Cotinine, and Ecstasy is upto 90 days. The detection period for Methadone is upto 30 days. The detection period for LSD is upto 3 days.
Saliva Drug Testing:
The detection period for Marijuana is 12-24 hours in saliva drug testing. The detection period for Cocaine is 1-3 days. The detection periods for opiate drugs Heroin, Morphine is 1-3 days. The detection period for Amphetamine and Methamphetamine is 1-3 days. The detection period for Phencyclidine (PCP) is 1-3 days. The detection period for Cannabis is 2 days. The detection period for Phenobarbital is 4 to 7 days. The detection period for Methadone is 24 hours. The detection period for Barbiturates (except Phenobarbital) is 1-2 days. The detection period for Cotinine is 2-4 days. The detection period for LSD is 0-3 hours. The detection period for Ecstasy (MDMA) is 24 hours.
The detection period for hair drug testing is high. Urine drug tests can be performed clinically and also at home, to know if kids and adults are abused to drugs or not. Hair drug tests and Saliva drug tests are often conducted at work places and schools to prevent drug adulteration. Drug testing guidelines and procedures, for laboratory drug testing, are created and controlled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The above mentioned information helps to understand drug testing methods and detection periods of commonly abused drugs.
