Job candidates subject to pre-employment drug screening tested positive for illicit drugs at a greater rate in the first six months of 2012 than in all of 2011, according to Drug Testing Index (TM) (DTI) data released by Quest Diagnostics DGX -2.81%, the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services. The positivity rate from pre-employment urine drug screening in the U.S. general workforce increased by 5.7% in the first half of 2012 compared to 2011, while the positivity rate from random urine drug testing in the U.S. general workforce was down 5.8%. DTI data also reveal a jump in positivity rates for marijuana in oral fluid vs. urine in the U.S. general workforce. Due in part to advances in oral fluid testing technology implemented in late 2011, the oral fluid marijuana positivity rate was 70% higher than that of urine in the first half of 2012 as compared with 2011. Marijuana continues to be the most commonly abused drug. Cocaine use is decreasing and amphetamines use continues a five-year upward trend. Substance misuse negatively affects the workplace through lost productivity, workplace accidents and injuries, employee absenteeism, low morale and increased illness and can have a serious impact on business operations.
