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Archive for August, 2009

What is Adulteration, and How Can it be Prevented?

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Some drug users/abusers who are informed that they will be drug tested, may try to adulterate their sample.

Adulterating urine samples is usually achieved by:

Substitution - passing another’s urine off as your own or purchasing fake urine

Dilution - Trying to drink excessive amounts of liquid, or taking “flush kits” to mask the drugs in your system

Addition - adding adulterants to your sample e.g. soap, bleach, vinegar

**More often than not, a person will try to over hydrate themselves hoping to dilute the concentration of drugs in their system.

Collection sites are continually adapting their procedures to ensure adulterated samples don’t get through. Collection sites do not allow bulky sweaters, purses, or anything that could be used to conceal an adulterant in the testing room. Toilet lids are sealed, bluing agent is added to the water, and there is no access to running water in collection room. Donors are also required to rinse their hands to ensure that there is nothing under the fingernails or in the palms of their hands to be used to adulterate the sample. The tester will check the temperature, and also do a test with adulteration strips. If a reading is out of normal range, it is indicative of adulteration and the sample will not be accepted.

Do attempts to cheat still happen - Definitely!!!

So, what can companies do to help out with the testing process?

1) When an employee has to go for a Random or Post Incident drug test, give them just enough notice to be able to make it to the appointment on time. Better yet, have a supervisor or the person who looks after safety, accompany the employee to the testing site to ensure nothing is being done or bought with the intent to adulterate the sample.

2) If you are considering starting a drug testing program, do not try in house drug testing.  More often than not, proper measures to ensure the integrity of the sample are not up to standard. You also run the risk that failed drug screens may be covered up for a fellow employee.

Please use a drug testing facility for the needs that your company may have.

3) Research. Get educated as to how drug testing works. Ask a drug testing facility questions that you may have so you and employees will have a better understanding.  Stop in to speak with someone or request a meeting. The more you know - the better defense you will have ensuring proper employees are hired to represent your company.

A company is only as good as its employees

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Posted in Drug Testing | 2 Comments »

14 DUI Convictions, and Still Going!

Monday, August 17th, 2009

After reading an article from the Daily Times, talking about 51 year old Wilson Benally getting arrested for his 14th DUI , I am intrigued as to how anyone could get to this point.

To sum the article up, local police had found Benally in his vehicle, with an empty bottle of vodka, one half empty bottle of vodka, and an empty bottle of mouth wash. Benally was tested with a field sobriety test that he failed, and then blew over at .21 BAC on his breath alcohol screen. The police charged him with his 14th DUI and insisted that he did not get back in his vehicle and drive it. But why didn’t they take away his keys? Or bring him to jail? When someone has that many offences over their lifetime they obviously haven’t learned or taken to heart any treatment that may have been provided to them.

Laws need to be established which strictly enforce treatment programs for people charged with crimes related to substance use and or abuse.  As the above story indicated, public safety is at risk with current legislation.  It is the job of the police force to keep everyone in their jurisdiction safe, and letting someone get back into their motor vehicle after their first DUI, let alone their 14th DUI is far from safe.

It is obvious that the current penalties associated with impaired driving are no longer a deterrent.  Combined with the fact that most people do not believe that they will get caught if they are only going a short distance after having a few drinks.  Increased police presence on city streets and highways and heavier penalties may be the only measure left.  Governments and lobbyists have used education for 50 or so years to combat drunk driving, but recently the effects of this education have seemed to plateau.

It seems that when people know there are check stops out due to long weekends and holidays, they tend to make safer decisions on rides home. Because they know their chances of getting caught are increased. So should we go to this extreme and have check stops year round? And will that reduce the number of drunk drivers that get behind the wheel? Stronger actions like this need to come into effect so we don’t get to the point where police are handing out a 14th DUI charge.

Here are some statistics:

Percentages of drivers involved in serious injuries that were under the influence have fluctuated over the past 20 years.

The highest was in 1992, at 48%, but was down to 21% by 1995, and then rose again to36% in 2006.  In Alberta alone from 2007-2008 the instances of drunk driving collisions increased almost 20%.

There were 2889 people killed and 199,337 injured in road side crashes in  Canada in 2006 (the most recent year for which these statistics are available). And in 2008, Ontario taxpayers alone, forked out $64,096,115.00 for treating, healing and rehabilitating those who sustained injuries in crashes.

Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all traffic fatalities, and impaired driving is the leading cause of death in Canada. And remember, being impaired isn’t just about alcohol; it also includes drug abuse and fatigue.     Almost 1 in 5 fatal crashes were caused by a driver who fell asleep, due to fatigue.  How much do we have to drill these statistics into people’s heads before they realize that if they don’t take action they WILL become one of these statistics?

“It’s like Russian Roulette. One of these times you’re going to get caught. Hopefully it’s a police officer pulling you over, and not because you’ve crashed into somebody”, say Louise Knox from Bonnyville, who experienced 3 fatal crashes first hand within the past 10 years.

Right now it is not mandatory in Alberta to have a breathalyzer attached to your ignition until your second conviction. But why get a free ride the first time when we have technology that stops people from drinking and driving. Impaired drivers are not only a threat to themselves, but they are a hazard to society.

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Posted in Alcohol Testing, Drug Testing, Drug Testing Legislation, Impaired Driving, Interesting Facts, Newsworthy | 3 Comments »

Drug Testing is Not Just for Blue Collar Workers: Professionals Also Struggle with Addictions

Monday, August 10th, 2009

“I spent many nights huddled in doorways, talking to strangers. That’s when I’d open up about my own life, my own downfall, and discovered I wasn’t alone. I met doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers - people from every walk of professional life who became addicted to drugs.” Marshall Smith seemed to have it all; he was a political staffer during Gordon Campbell’s first term in office. Smith was 28 years old with a very bright future that was suddenly taken over by drugs. Accepting a line of cocaine one night became a 3 year struggle for Smith who soon established a $2,000 a week habit of cocaine, meth and alcohol. From 2004 to 2007, the rising Politian had become a street-level hustler including dealing drugs to get money to feed his habit and sleeping in Vancouver parks and alleys.

“I was in a bar and someone offered me a line of cocaine. I did it, I liked it and I wanted more. But it was the beginning of the end.”

Like Smith many white collared workers can find themselves in this position, being put in life threatening situations fearing for their life. To have everything going for you one minute to having nothing the next shows just how powerful drugs can be to any lifestyle.  Smith found himself in jail many times; ironically he had once been employed with that same jail serving as a guard. Luckily for Smith after serving time for eight months in a series of Lower Mainland prisons, he finally decided to get help. He spent most of his prison time filling out applications for rehab and soon entered the Maple Ridge Treatment Centre in 2007. Free of drugs and alcohol for two years and now helping other addicts to recover Smith has rebounded with his parents and some of his old acquaintances, though many broken friendships will never be repaired.

When most people consider what a drug addict is, the picture of a rising political star, raised in a loving upper class family does not come to mind.  A common misconception is that poverty and low social class breed drug addiction.  While this certainly does occur, drug addiction is not limited to the have-nots.  Drug use occurs within many professional organizations, and the effects it can have on an organization can be devastating.   Employee theft and reduced productivity are common occurrences felt in organizations with an addict on staff.

When companies consider drug and alcohol testing as a pre-requisite for employment, it should not be limited to industrial companies, or those in safety sensitive positions.   Drug use in employees is not relegated by industry.  Any company that employs an addict will notice some negative impact in their workplace.  Reduced worker productivity and missed time, may not seem like a major issue, but over time this can cost a company tens of thousands of dollars.

Fortunately in Marshall Smith’s case, he was able to overcome his addiction and restart his life.  He burned a lot of bridges in the process; he was fired, homeless and arrested in a very short period of time.  But luckily he came to some point in his life where he realized that it was time to change, to get sober.

I am a strong advocate for drug free workplaces and would like to see companies take added steps to ensure a safe and productive workplace.  If you would like more information about the effects of drug use in the workplace, contact SureHire at 1-866-944-4473.

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Posted in Drug Testing, Newsworthy | No Comments »

Prescription Drug Abuse Continues to Rise

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Since the recent death of Michael Jackson, the topic of prescription drug misuse and abuse has been on the covers of magazines and widely discussed on television.

I thought it would be very timely to touch upon this topic, below is an article from the US Department of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol & Drug Information.

Students in big cities are “pharming” these days- “pharming” being new lexicon for grabbing “a handful” of prescription drugs and ingesting some or all of them. Young people steal grandma’s pills and distribute them at school. Senior citizens falsify their prescriptions for more pain medication. Babysitters take pills from cabinets. An Ohio real estate agent loses her license for pilfering pills from bathrooms at “Open Houses.” Eminem, the rapper, is reported to have had the painkiller Vicodin tattoed on his bicep.

These are all scenes from the latest drug frenzy-getting high (or low) from prescription drugs. The appeal is obvious-the drugs can be legally obtained, the stigma of going to a street pusher can be avoided, and the price isn’t steep. There are an estimated 800,000 web sites which sell prescription drugs on the Internet and will ship them to households no questions asked. Today, about one-third of all U.S. drug abuse is prescription drug abuse.

What drives it?

Experts and students themselves point to many things spurring prescription drug abuse by youth. There’s the extreme competition for college entrance, including competition for Advanced Placement and Honors courses in high school. Students talk of “dying down the pressure” with excess painkillers, sedatives, or stimulants. The abuse of the stimulant Ritalin, a drug used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is rising. Harm is not often associated with prescription drugs until it is too late. Others note that this is a culture which doesn’t easily tolerate pain. Also, an obsession with physical appearance stokes the use of diet pills. One such pill containing ephedra recently contributed to the death of a Baltimore Orioles pitcher during spring training.

Often, people don’t realize that prescription drugs, if used outside a doctor’s orders, can pack a very hard-sometimes lethal-punch.

ER and mortality stats

  • In 2000, 43 percent of those who ended up in hospital emergency rooms from drug overdoses-nearly a half million people-were there because of misusing prescription drugs.
  • In seven cities in 2000 (Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Seattle, and Washington, DC) 626 people died from overdose of painkillers and tranquilizers. By 2001, such deaths had increased in Miami and Chicago by 20 percent.
  • From 1998 to 2000, the number of people entering an emergency room because of misusing hydrocodone (Vicodin) rose 48 percent, oxycodone (OxyContin) 108 percent, and methadone 63 percent. The rates are intensifying: from mid-2000 to mid-2001, oxycodone went up in emergency room visits 44 percent.

Disturbing trends

While most illicit drug abuse, particularly for middle and high school teens, began to slow or actually decline in 2002 after a half a decade increase, abuse of prescription drugs continues to climb:

  • Over the past decade-and-a-half, the number of teen and young adult (ages 12 to 25) new abusers of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) or hydrocodone (Vicodin) has grown five-fold (from 400,000 in the mid-eighties to 2 million in 2000).
  • New misusers of tranquilizers such as diazepam (Valium) or alprazolam (Xanax, called “zanies” by youth)-medicine normally used to treat anxiety or tension-went up nearly 50 percent in one year (700,000 in 1999 to 1 million in 2000).
  • More than 17 percent of adults over 60, wittingly or not, abuse prescription drugs.
  • In 2000, more than 19 million prescriptions for ADHD drugs were filled, a 72 percent increase since 1995. An estimated 3 to 5 percent of school-age children have ADHD. A study of students in Wisconsin and Minnesota showed 34 percent of ADHD youth age 11 to 18 report being approached to sell or trade their medicines, such as Ritalin.
  • Among 12- to 17-year-olds, girls are more likely than boys to use psychotherapeutic drugs nonmedically.

If you would like to read the original article, click here

An additional article on the rise of prescription drug use in Canada, and specifically Alberta can be found here.

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Posted in Alcohol Testing, Drug Testing | 4 Comments »