Four percent of U.S. worker drug tests were positive last year, up slightly from the previous year, the medical screening laboratory Quest Diagnostics reports.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, August 5- Thursday, August 11, 2016.
Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore is proposing that wealthy Americans get drug-tested before being able to take advantage of tax benefits, according to NPR.
Employers across the country face the emerging issue of how they are allowed to manage the medicinal use of marijuana by their employees.
Employers report they are having difficulty finding workers who can pass a pre-employment drug test, The New York Times reports.
Several local governments have started to include synthetic cannabinoids in their criminal justice drug monitoring programs in an effort to deter their use, after it became clear many people were using the drugs because they knew tests wouldn’t detect them, according to the Director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR).
Managers in states where marijuana is legal are toughening up their drug policies, according to a new survey. Many employers in these states say they will not hire employees who smoke marijuana on their own time, Bloomberg Business reports.
A year after Tennessee began its welfare drug-testing program, only 55 recipients tested positive for drugs, according to the state’s Department of Human Services. The results are similar to those of other states that have implemented drug-testing programs for people receiving government benefits, according to The Huffington Post.
A group of Cincinnati hospitals has announced it will test all mothers or their babies for opiates. It is the first program of its kind in the nation, Reuters reports.
A bill introduced Wednesday in Ohio’s state legislature would require people applying for welfare to undergo drug screening. If the screening suggested drug use, they would have to take a drug test, ABC News reports.
Drug use among American workers appears to be increasing, based on the results of drug tests. Traces of drugs were found in 3.9 percent of urine tests conducted for employers last year, up from 3.7 percent in 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Almost one in five public high schools have mandatory drug-testing policies, despite numerous studies that have shown little evidence these programs are effective, The Washington Post reports.
Swedish researchers report they have developed a breath test that could be used as an alternative to urine drug testing. The test detects many drugs including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, according to HealthDay.
Doctors and nurses should undergo random drug testing, argues a leading medical ethicist. “I am sorry to say that addiction and the abuse of drugs are not really a part of the discussion about making medicine safer,” says Arthur L. Caplan, PhD.
Under a new law, Maine will require drug testing for welfare recipients with a prior drug conviction within the past 20 years who indicate a potential for drug dependency.
From the DEA cracking down on a potent form of marijuana to fingernail drug testing, Join Together kept their readers on top of the news making an impact in their community, work and life.
A federal appeals court has struck down a Florida law that required welfare applicants to undergo drug tests. The court ruled the law was an “unreasonable search.”
Researchers at Washington State University are developing a breath test for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The test could be used to determine if a person is driving under the influence of marijuana, according to The Seattle Times.
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