Fingerprinting | Can Employers Test for Prescription Drugs?
Fingerprinting | Many of today’s employers are concerned with the impact of prescription drugs on the workplace. After all, the use and abuse of prescription medications, like illicit drugs, can sometimes have negative effects on the workplace: increasing the potential for on-the-job accidents, impacting job performance, and providing a stronger impetus for workplace theft.
In some cases, safety issues can arise even if the medication is being used legally and as directed by a physician.
Employers know that the use and abuse of these medications is a serious issue that deserves their attention. In a recent 2011 survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), nearly 20 percent of Americans older than age 12 reported using prescription drugs in a non-medical manner at some point in their lifetime.
NIDA also reports that prescription drugs are, after marijuana and alcohol, the most commonly abused substance in the U.S. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have classified this type of abuse as an epidemic and indicate that it is the fastest growing drug problem in the U.S., with one death every 19 minutes.
Prescription Drug Use in the Workplace
Furthermore, there is some evidence that prescription drug use and abuse is a growing problem in the workplace. According to Quest Diagnostics, a leading drug testing laboratory, there has been a marked spike in the incidence of employees testing positive for prescription opiates—more than 40 percent from 2005 to 2009.
Yet unlike illicit drugs, for which most U.S. employers can test easily and legally, prescription medications present a number of challenges to organizations. For one, the mere presence of these substances in a drug test does not constitute an offense, unlike with illegal drugs.-Hireright
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