By Joe Reilly, President National Drug Screening, Inc<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
A friend and the General Manager of an out of state local business asked me the other day an interesting series of questions.\u00a0 The first was \u201cIs it legal to drop marijuana from our drug testing program\u201d.\u00a0 My answer was that in a non-regulated environment there would be nothing illegal about not testing for marijuana; but certainly, the drug-free workplace policy<\/strong> <\/a>would need to be updated to reflect such a change.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n He then asked about the pros and cons of such a decision and decided that the positive aspect would be the ability to easily hire employees.\u00a0 It had been difficult lately because most of his applicants were testing positive for marijuana or not even going for the drug test because they said they knew they would be positive. \u00a0As his business is in\u00a0California<\/a><\/strong>, he stated this makes it even more difficult as it seems many in California are marijuana users.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I said that perhaps it would be easier to hire employees but perhaps that this easy way out would lead to liabilities down the road.\u00a0 If an employee had an accident and hurt himself or herself and perhaps others and this employee tested positive for marijuana, perhaps the employer could face significant liability.\u00a0 If the individual smokes pot, what are the chances they might use other illegal drugs if they are offered to him or to her.\u00a0 We both agreed this happens often.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Does an employee come to work stoned on pot?\u00a0 We don\u2019t know as there is no current testing available today to determine impairment from use of marijuana.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Employees that are smoking pot are likely to not be as productive and not be as safe as those employees that are not using illegal drugs.\u00a0 Marijuana does have harmful effects on the human body.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n My friend works in the hospitality industry, so this makes the conversation even more interesting.\u00a0 In a recent article\u00a0published in DATIA focus magazine<\/a><\/strong>(DATIA merged with\u00a0NDASA<\/a>\u00a0in 2023), Dr. Barry Sample of Quest Diagnostics provided information that the Accommodation and Food Services industry sector, experienced year-over-year increases in marijuana positivity between 2015 and 2017.\u00a0 The increase was 20.7%. \u00a0\u00a0The information was based on analysis of over 50,000 urine drug tests in the Accommodation and Food Services industry sector.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The bottom line to this conversation from my point of view is to be diligent in hiring new employees, it is hard work and takes time. \u00a0Employee drug use has the potential to put workplaces at risk.\u00a0 As\u00a0Dr. Sample<\/a>\u00a0pointed out\u00a0\u201cWhile a retail clerk, restaurant server, or nurse may not cause a job-related automobile accident, pipeline explosion, or forklift crash, these and other customer-facing roles are certainly in a position to influence buyer decisions, customer satisfaction, and brand quality in a number of detrimental and hard-to-quantify ways.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Can you stop testing for marijuana but still test for other drugs, clearly yes for Non-DOT drug testing. But think twice about dropping marijuana from your drug testing program<\/strong>. This decision will take a lot of thought and debate. Either way make sure drug free workplace policies are revised and up to date with best practices and State laws. When revising drug testing policies, consider expanded opiates. \u00a0Are you testing for hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone and oxymorphone?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n