Drug testing at work

let's turn the question around.

Do you think people in certain professions should be randomly tested?

-how about police officers?
-firefighters?
-airline pilots?
-airline traffic controllers?
-judges?
-emergency room doctors?

The only people that I think should be randomly tested for drugs are politicians.

random drug and alcohol testing in the office and alcohol testing prior to boarding any helicopters.

the random alcohol testing really slowed down boozey lunches but now people just tend not to return to work if they have had more than a couple of pints

there's also a lot of controversy down here at the moment about people using a synthetic legal marijuana on mine sites at the moment because it cant yet be tested for morons

Originally Posted by gotlighters

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Most companies don't do drug testing anymore because it's way too costly. I think they do drug testing only on people that have blue collar jobs.

No idea what you're talking about. It's very cheap.

Originally Posted by otc

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piob- what did you test for?

I'm assuming you just got a "pass/fail" back from the testing company but could you give them guidelines?

Could you tell them you don't care about traces of pot but would prefer to avoid candidates with a mixture of of heroin, coke, and meth in their system?

If memory serves, you pick panels of drugs. So pot is part of panel and can't be sorted out individually. You're correct that they are "pass/fail" and you just get told what class of drugs they showed positive on.

Originally Posted by musicguy

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No drug testing whatsoever in my field. I'd say at least 20% of classical musicians occasionally have some fun with substances. Not sure about army/navy/marine bands.

Come on, seriously?

if i had to drug testing i would have no employees

I've had drug tests required upon being a new hire at two of my office jobs in the course of my career. I passed both of the tests, though on at least one of them, I have no idea how. I guess pot and/or coke don't linger in the system as long as it commonly assumed.

They do "random" testing here. Some guys have gotten 3-4 times and others like me never.

Two guys got a "random" test the day after they went to a Damian Marley concert.

Originally Posted by musicguy

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No drug testing whatsoever in my field. I'd say at least 20% of classical musicians occasionally have some fun with substances. Not sure about army/navy/marine bands.

I hear that beta blockers are big with this crowd. Slows the heart and helps keep hands steady.

Originally Posted by in stitches

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if i had to drug testing i would have no employees

hahaha oh man that's crazy. Does doing drugs make you a bad person?

Originally Posted by Wolfador

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They do "random" testing here. Some guys have gotten 3-4 times and others like me never.

Two guys got a "random" test the day after they went to a Damian Marley concert.

I'm betting you never saw them again lol.

What's this I hear about testing your hair (or hair follicles I don't remember) for drugs? For things like MJ, it's supposed to be extremely accurate in determing whether you've smoked or not.

Originally Posted by mr.orange

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I'm betting you never saw them again lol.

Didn't see them for a few weeks. (They offer a treatment program here, where you can keep your job if you complete it)

Originally Posted by mr.orange

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What's this I hear about testing your hair (or hair follicles I don't remember) for drugs? For things like MJ, it's supposed to be extremely accurate in determing whether you've smoked or not.

It works and the records are there for quite a long time.

I think most places will only test something like the first inch (or like 60-90 days of history) and ignore everything longer....they are pretty expensive though so you gotta have a good reason to do it instead of a urine test. You'd never use it in something like a post-accident situation where everything would show up in urine and lets be honest, most employers aren't looking for someone who has never ever touched anything...they just want you to be able to pass a drug test (i.e. you can abstain long enough to test clean).

Cutting your hair won't help unless you go everything. You'd probably think you were pretty clever until they just go ahead and grab some pubes and a chest hair.

Originally Posted by Wolfador

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Didn't see them for a few weeks. (They offer a treatment program here, where you can keep your job if you complete it)

that's generous on the company's part but, what if they don't pass next time?

Originally Posted by otc

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Cutting your hair won't help unless you go everything. You'd probably think you were pretty clever until they just go ahead and grab some pubes and a chest hair.

LOL you heard it here folks. You do drugs, you will get busted.

All kidding aside, companies drug test to know if you are a trustworthy person. At least that's the experience I've had.

I get drug tested at work. There are random calls for getting tested. I don't work for the government, no I am not a blue collar worker. So, yes, it exists and yes, it does suck.