Employee drug testing is a highly popular practice in corporations, especially in the USA. It is used to filter out job applicants who may be drug users. However, it has also come under criticism from civil liberty groups who argue that it is not criminal to be an occasional drug user. Drug testing in schools and prisons is also commonplace.
Drug Testing Services
Drug and narcotic testing is big business and there are many established laboratories offering an affordable service that even small companies can obtain.
The basic service is urine drug testing which will look for metabolites of narcotics in the urine. Because metabolites are passed in a number of days then hair tests are also becoming more common. These detect microscopic amounts and even if the person shaves their head, body hair can be used instead.
Controversy
There is much controversy over the use of tests in the first place. However, with urine drug testing there is an implicit bias towards users of soft drugs such as marijuana. Unlike hard drugs like cocaine and heroin which cannot be detected in urine within a few days of ingestion, marijuana metabolites can be detected for up to 30 days.
Hence, there is much argument against urine tests in particular because they are more likely to punish those who present less of a problem. This is one reason why hair tests, despite being more expensive, are becoming more popular.
The Rise Of Ways To Cheat A Test
Almost as big as the employee drug testing market itself, is the market for how to avoid being caught on a drug test. These products cater mainly to the urine testing market and include many novel methods including substitution of urine and ingested supplements. Some people will even go so far as to inject someone else’s urine directly into the bladder.