Drugs of Abuse Workplace Testing |
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Drug testing of job applicants and employees is mandated for many federal government agencies and has also been adopted by many other large and small businesses. Each year, Quest Diagnostics publishes the Drug Testing Index, which provides the positive test rates for the most common drugs of abuse. The most recently published index reflects the results of more than 7.3 million workplace drug tests performed in 2005. Because this index is comprised of such a large data set, it most likely reflects trends in the U.S. workforce.
Workforce |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
2001 |
Government |
2.3% |
2.3% |
2.5% |
2.5% |
2.9% |
General |
4.5% |
4.9% |
5.0% |
4.8% |
4.9% |
Combined |
4.1% |
4.5% |
4.5% |
4.4% |
4.6% |
The 2005 data indicates that workforce drug use was at the lowest level since the index was first published in 1988. The combined workforce had a positive rate of 13.6% in 1988. The positive rate for government workers is about half the rate of the general workforce.
The major reason for this encouraging downward trend has been a significant decrease in marijuana positives in the combined workforce. The following table expresses the percentage of positive results for each drug class between the years 2002 and 2005.
Drug Class |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
Amphetamines |
0.48% |
0.52% |
0.49% |
0.34% |
Barbiturates |
0.25% |
0.27% |
0.29% |
0.30% |
Benzodiazepines |
0.58% |
0.58% |
0.60% |
0.58% |
Cocaine |
0.70% |
0.72% |
0.74% |
0.71% |
Marijuana |
2.54% |
2.88% |
2.96% |
2.98% |
Methadone |
0.23% |
0.21% |
0.20% |
0.16% |
Opiates |
0.32% |
0.32% |
0.34% |
0.27% |
PCP |
0.02% |
0.01% |
0.03% |
0.02% |
Propoxyphene |
0.57% |
0.63% |
0.67% |
0.73% |
Amphetamine abuse, particularly methamphetamine abuse, is currently a major concern. A slight decline was noted between 2004 and 2005. Preliminary review of the first five months of 2008 revealed that amphetamine positives declined to a 3.5 year low among both groups of workers.
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