Source: Hull Daily Mail, UK

Pub Date: Thursday, 21 February 2002

Pub LTE: Drug Testing in The Workplace

Author: Carl Wagner

Drug testing in the workplace should be brought in only after full consultation with staff and unions, and within the context of a clear policy on what to do in the event of a positive result.

The unreliability of the evidence provided by drug tests could have serious consequences for workers, especially cannabis users, who should be aware that they could lose their job, their driving licence or worse because of an unsafe test.

A positive test result for cannabis can be produced after passive inhalation, consumption of foods containing hemp seed or its oils, legal medications or the ingestion of cannabis even after months previously.

The greatest shortcoming is their inability to determine impairment at the time the test was taken. Unlike the breathalyser which can accurately detect alcohol impairment, drug tests cannot.

It wouldn't be legal to dismiss someone because they had tested positive for cannabis because the tests themselves are known to be unsafe.

Scientific studies of the effects of driving performance after smoking cannabis carried out in the Netherlands and in Australia, have long ago declared that the detrimental effects are tiny, and the Dutch government, which allows cannabis use and sale from certain outlets, has no special laws for drivers who smoke it.

So why use unnecessary tests that produce unreliable results?

Carl Wagner