Substance Abuse Disorder Rises During Crises. Are Employers Ready?

Historically, substance abuse increases when things are bad in the world, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no different. After 9/11, the National Institutes of Health reported that with the stress of the times, people often resort to substance use (or relapse) to cope. From a recent Medscape Article: After Hurricane Katrina , substance abuse disorders in New Orleans [...]

Why Are My Drug Test Results Taking So Long?

As good as we are at responding to our clients' requests, there are some things you cannot rush. The majority of negative test results are delivered within 24-48 hours of collection. Common delays includedelays in shipping from the collector because the specimen was collected overnight or on a weekenderrors in the paperwork submitted by the [...]

5 Truths about Medical Marijuana and Drug Testing That Everyone Needs To Know

A week ago medical marijuana became available in Illinois. Frankly, I don't really care if adults choose to smoke pot. I also don't care if they choose to shoot staples into their thighs or drink gasoline. As long as it doesn't harm me, my family or my business, it's really none of my business. That's a [...]

Time is money (and aggravation) in drug testing.

“We just want to get the testing done so we can put people to work,” a frustrated HR manager recently told me. “How long does your lab take?” That’s really what it’s about, isn’t it? When a critical process is the bottleneck, it’s aggravating. Particularly when a business has high turnover, or a rush of [...]

DOT Rapid Urine Tests? Really?

Last week I went into stealth mode and called some local “competitors,” pretending to be looking for information about drug testing programs. It was more “enlightening” than I had imagined! I was told by two occupational health clinics that claim to do DOT and non-DOT drug and alcohol testing, that it is perfectly acceptable to [...]