Why Drug and Alcohol Testing Matters?

 Drug and Alcohol Testing

The goMDnow for a Drug-Free Workplace reports that more than 74 percent of illegal drug users are employed. These intoxicated workers are responsible for about 40% of industrial deaths in the United States. Among other factors, this highlights the importance of drug and alcohol testing -- especially in the workplace.

Why is drug testing important?

DOT Drug testing programs are intended to detect illegal drugs, certain prescription drugs, and alcohol. Tests can:

• Helping employees admit or admit to substance abuse problems

• Identifying signs and symptoms of substance abuse and addiction to provide early intervention and help prevent accidents

• Protect the company's employees, safety and finances

• Protect others from substance use and abuse

• Support patients through recovery by helping them take responsibility to prevent relapse

Drug testing helps protect the health of employees battling substance abuse. Testing also helps deter people from abusing drugs; most people don't want to risk losing their jobs because of a positive drug test.

Drug Testing Program

There are no universal standards for the clinical use of drug and alcohol testing, monitoring, diagnosis, or continuum of care. The American Association for the Drugs of Addiction acknowledges that this creates a gap in clinical practice.

Even without standardization, various types of drug testing can be performed effectively at home, at work, or at school. At-home or remote testing may not always be feasible due to limited access to mail-in labs that process remote samples, but that is changing. More labs are expanding their services to include analysis of remote sample samples.

The most common types of alcohol and drug tests are saliva, urine, and sometimes blood tests.

Blood tests provide more accurate and reliable results. That's because blood tests reveal more specific information about drug and alcohol concentration levels, among other data. This is also because, unlike urine, blood samples are more difficult to contaminate or thinned.

For blood collection, patients can self-collect a sample at home using a special remote device and send it to a laboratory for testing. They can receive remote equipment from some drug and alcohol treatment facilities that can provide them with home specimen collection kits.

Identifying Relapses in Addiction Recovery

Many rehabilitation programs use routine drug and alcohol testing to identify relapses. This early identification facilitates early intervention to help patients get back on track. Such programs provide effective treatment plans for inpatient, outpatient, and aftercare support programs. Accountability through routine testing is essential to help prevent relapse and ensure abstinence and sobriety for patients in the program.

In some "Board & Care" or "Sober Living" programs, ex-addicts remain in abstinence through routine drug testing. If a patient fails a drug test due to a relapse, they lose their privilege to live at the facility. This is one way that regular testing helps addicts commit to treatment over the long term and stick to the program.