Workplace drug testing distorted by detox drugs

No employer wants his employees using drugs, but he doesn’t want them to be dishonest… No employer wants his employees using drugs, but he doesn’t want them to be dishonest either.

Quest Diagnostics medical laboratory facility released a report in March that stated the overall number of positive workplace drug tests in 2006 declined to their lowest levels since 1988.

On the surface this is good news – less drug users in the workplace – but the reality is that drug tests can be passed deceitfully with a variety of detoxification products that hide evidence of alcohol and drug use.

In January 2002, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration identified 650 products marketed to fool a drug test.

Detoxification products today are more accessible than ever. Many products can be found at the local GNC store on Forbes Avenue, which provides a wide selection of FDA-approved products from herbal drinks in tropical flavors to 24-hour cleansing pills.

“These products are intended for cleansing your liver, colon and kidney,” according to a GNC employee, “Flushing out the endocrine system is a main concern for these products.”

The purpose of most detoxification drugs is to quickly remove unwanted pollutants from the body. Immediate and fast-acting system flushing seems potentially harmful, but Dr. Elizabeth Wettick, medical director of Pitt’s Student Health Services said, “I have never seen or heard of any cases of student health treating patients with side effects from detoxification drugs.”

The growth of the detoxification products industry is a direct result of booming Internet access to these products according to testimony by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to a Senate Subcommittee in May 2005.

Today, a Google search for “pass a drug test” exposes over 2.2 million hit results. These detoxification websites include drinks, pills, shampoos to remove drug deposits in hair, mouthwashes to pass a saliva test and synthetic urine all available for purchase online.

Although FDA approved detoxification products sold in health stores are a thriving industry, the reliability of these products is unclear.

Blogs like Cannibus.com allows users of detoxification drugs to broadcast their personal experiences with the products.

But drug-testing facilities have discovered some ways to detect if a test taker is using a detoxification drug.

Most detoxification products focus on flushing out and diluting urine so that signs of drugs or alcohol are wiped out of the system.

“Drug tests often measure creatine levels,” Bob Bushey, of the Pennsylvania State Board of Probation and Parole, said.

The amount of creatine can reveal the level of dilution of the urine and high levels of dilution suggests use of a detoxification product.

Cannisbus.com also offers solutions to these obstacles by advising the user to drink liquids such as Gatorade, as opposed to water, so that the urine will be less diluted.

With almost limitless access to the detoxification drug market, workplace drug tests cannot rely solely on the results from their tests for statistics.

“A real solution to drug use in the workplace is not reliance on statistics that may be misleading,” said Ryan Thorpe, admissions director of Narcon Arrowhead, a drug and rehabilitation center. “A better solution is truthful and penetrating education of workers and availability of effective and permanent rehabilitation.”