Standard Drug Testing in the Workplace
Aspiring employees and current employees can be subjected to a drug test. Below are some important things to know about drug testing.
Most job applicants are subjected to drug testing. It can be a urine or saliva test. Other companies also do blood or hair drug testing. You will not be taken for employment if you drug test result is positive. The employer’s site or a designated clinic are the places where they conduct drug testing.
If you are already employed, you can still be subjected to random drug testing at a later date. Sometimes, if an employer suspects that employees are using drugs at work, they also subject them to drug testing. If there is a need for great safety in the workplace, then it is important to have employees free of drugs and so drug testing is conducted.
Urine based drug tests are cheap and is the most likely method used but can only catch a minority of drug users especially if it is announced. You can easily pass a urine drug test after two to four days have passed after last using them. Cannabis, however, is an exception since it takes up to 30 days for all traces of the drug to leave your urine.
You can also take a hair drug test. These are more expensive than a urine test so if there is an incident of misconduct, then this is the most likely method to be used. You history of drug use can be seen in hair test in great detail.
Drug tests are not all the same. There are drug tests that are more thorough than others. Usually, a 5-panel drug test is done in the workplace. This detects 5 different types of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, opiates, and PCP. In some sectors, the 10-panel drug test is used. The 5 drugs mentioned above plus barbiturates, propoxyphene, methaqualone, benzodiazepines, and methadone, are the 10 drugs being tested for.
You can either have an instant drug test or a drug lab test. Check out this useful post, if you want to learn the difference between the two.
Even if you live in a state where cannabis is legal, being fond with cannabis in your system when you take a drug test is not fine. At the federal legal, cannabis is still illegal. It could cost you your job if you test positive for THC even if you are using it for medical reasons. If you take products containing CBD, you can fail drug testing.
It benefits you to know your company’s drug policy whether you are new or old in the job. You should always be ready. Just stay away from drugs if you want to keep your job.