Seventy employees of a West Virginia business went through random drug testing. Twelve of them, or 17.1 percent, failed. That’s just one example of the growing concern about prescription drug abuse among those in manufacturing, mining, construction and other industries in the Mountain State and across the country. A recent study by the National Institutes…
Employers should update their drug testing policies now to take full advantage of a beneficial state law taking effect Nov. 1. “If you don’t change your policy by Nov. 1, you are contractually obligating yourself to the old law after Nov. 1,” said McAfee & Taft attorney Charles S. Plumb. “This is a good time…
A study has found that people in their 20s who regularly smoke cannabis are up to three times more likely to use other illicit drugs. The findings were based on a long-term study of nearly 2000 Victorian high school students who were first surveyed on their drug habits when they were teens and throughout their…
This story appears in the July 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Hair tests, which could keep more drug-abusing drivers off the road, are starting to gain favor among larger carriers though the number using them still are few and far between, experts said. C.R. England, Gordon Trucking and Roehl Transport, three Transport Topics Top…
A new Indiana rule requiring drug tests for unemployed people participating in state-funded job training programs reflects a hard stance many states are taking regarding public assistance as they struggle with limited financial resources. The U.S. Department of Labor says Indiana is the first state to require drug testing of people seeking job training. But…
Michigan, like the nation, is experiencing a troubling increase in prescription drug abuse — medicines for pain, hyperactivity and anxiety are triggering a rise in emergency hospital visits, overdose deaths and treatment for addiction. In Michigan, more residents now die from prescription drug abuse than from heroin and cocaine combined, a federal registry shows. In…
The number of college athletes testing positive for marijuana at postseason events nearly tripled in the NCAA’s most recent analysis. Though the association says it’s too early to draw conclusions from the finding, one anti-doping official says it raises concern. The number of positive marijuana tests across all three divisions increased from 28 in 2008-09…
Drivers high on marijuana represent an unrecognized crisis, experts tell the Los Angeles Times. A 2009 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), based on blood, breath and saliva tests collected on weekends from drivers in 300 locations nationally, found that 16.3 percent of drivers at night were impaired from legal or illegal…
Those who start using before 18 are six times more likely to become addicts, report says Nearly half of all U.S. high school students currently smoke, drink or use other drugs, and a third of users meets the medical criteria for addiction, according to a report out Wednesday. Adolescent substance use is “the number one…
The U.S. Justice Department has announced that medical marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers located in states with medical marijuana laws are not immune from prosecution for violation of federal drug and money-laundering laws. Currently the medical use of marijuana is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia, USA Today reports. According to the…
