Last week I wrote about how more Americans are self-medicating with dietary supplements. Around the same time, I ran across an article about the high number of overdose deaths in America and another article on how more Americans are cheating on drug tests. I suspect all these headlines are related to some degree. Americans aren’t just self-medicating with OTC herbal elixirs. They’re also self-medicating with various legal and illegal recreational drugs and trying to cover their tracks with their employers.
Workers are cheating on drug tests at the highest rate in more than 30 years, according to one of the U.S.’s largest drug-testing labs.
The increase in tampered tests came from samples collected in 2023, a year also marked by rising marijuana positive tests from employees and job candidates in traditional office settings, according to Quest Diagnostics.
“Some American workers are going to great lengths to attempt to subvert the drug-testing process,” said Dr. Suhash Harwani, senior director of science for workforce health solutions at Quest.
Marijuana use is rising in part due to legalization or decriminalization initiatives across the country. Yet, even if you’re allowed to smoke weed or take a chewable in the comfort of your own home many employers would prefer you abstain. Think airline pilots, school bus drivers and people who work in heavy industries. Drug use is also higher in office work.
Workforce positive drug screens were particularly high last year for jobs associated with office work, Quest said. Marijuana positivity was up last year in 13 out of 15 industries, led by finance and insurance, which increased more than 35%. Public administration positive tests rose by nearly 24% and real-estate rental and leasing jobs that screened positive were up more than 22%. Positive marijuana screens were also higher in the education sector, as well as professional, scientific and technical services.
How do you cheat on a drug test? It involves buying and substituting synthetic urine for your own or borrowing and substituting a clean sample from someone you know. There are also additives you can buy online that will supposedly obscure, invalidate or hide possible drug use.
Approximately 6,000 urine samples out of about 5.5 million collected from the general U.S. workforce last year were classified as substituted, Quest said. That’s a more than sixfold increase from the previous year and the highest rate ever recorded by the company.
That doesn’t sound like a large proportion, only about 0.1%. Of course, that’s only the ones they caught. Probably the most experienced drug users know how not to get caught. As an aside, whenever my wife or I go to Quest or LabCorp for a medical blood draw, the places are full of people who are there for drug tests.
A spokeswoman from the Society of Human Resource Management said cheating on drug tests does not surprise her. Indeed, it is consistent with a recent trend to cheat on remote video job interviews when job candidates have someone else sit in and conduct the interview for them (Wait, what?).
Quest Diagnostics said 4.6% of drug tests came back positive, driven mostly by marijuana. In 2023 about 4.5% of tests were flagged for marijuana, compared to 3.1% in 2019. As a result of marijuana legalization and higher drug use, employers are having to rethink their policies on drug use. Many are moving away from drug testing. A few years ago, I read that in the tight labor market many employers complained it was difficult to recruit qualified workers due to marijuana use. The positive test rates for marijuana use are highest in states where cannibis is now legal. Positive drug tests were below the national average, at only 3.3%, in states that have yet to approved recreational marijuana use.
Read more at WSJ: More Workers Are Cheating on Drug Tests