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Worker use of amphetamines, which include the dangerous, highly addictive drug methamphetamine, decreased last year, according to an analysis of more than 7.3 million workplace drug tests performed in 2005 by Quest Diagnostics Inc., a provider of employer drug-testing services.
The 2005 Drug Testing Index® summarizes rates of drug-test positives among three major testing populations: federally-mandated, safety-sensitive workers; the general workforce; and the combined
U.S.
workforce. Rates for various drugs were determined by calculating the proportion of positive results for each drug to the total number of tests performed.
In 2005, less than one-half of a percent (.48) of all drug tests of the general
U.S.
workforce that tested for amphetamines were positive for them. This figure represents a decrease of 8 percent from the previous year’s rate of .52 percent. The rate among federally mandated, safety-sensitive workers was lower, at .35 percent; however, this figure represents a 13 percent increase over this group’s rate of .31 percent in 2004.
The Drug Testing Index is published by Quest Diagnostics as a public service for government, media and industry, serving as a benchmark for national trends. Prompted by interest from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Quest Diagnostics also conducted a preliminary review of drug-test positives for amphetamines for the first five months of 2006. During this time, the rate among the general
U.S.
workforce was .43 percent, a decrease of 10 percent from 2005. Among federally-mandated, safety-sensitive workers, the rate declined by 20 percent, to 0.28 percent.
The 2005 data also revealed that overall worker drug use fell to the lowest level since Quest Diagnostics began publishing the Drug Testing Index in 1998. Of all tests for all drugs performed by the company for the combined
U.S.
workforce, 4.1 percent had positive results, compared to 4.5 in 2004 and 13.6 percent in 1988. The decline is attributed to a significant decline in tests positive for marijuana. As measured by the results, use of marijuana among
U.S.
workers decreased by approximately 12 percent from 2004 to 2005.
Workplace drug testing can help both deter and detect worker drug use and is one of several steps employers can take to ensure their workplace is free of the hazards of worker drug use. More information about the issue of workplace drug use and how employers and employees can work together to prevent it is available on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Working Partners Web site.
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