The Industries Spearheading Employee Drug Testing Efforts
As drug use becomes more tolerated on a state and federal level, drug testing laws must also evolve to keep up. Employee drug testing laws specifically are being workshopped by state legislatures to ensure worker safety. In the United States, only 5 states consider employee drug testing to be legal, while 38 states consider it legal with caveats and 11 have no state law on the matter at all. Despite the 500 new bills related to drug testing that were introduced in 2024, there is still a great need for regulation of drug use in the workplace.
Especially following the more recent legalization of marijuana across several states in the US, positive marijuana tests have increased by nearly 50%. This positivity rate is a cause for concern amongst experts, warning that this could have serious implications for risk prone and safety-sensitive industries. Because of this, states are beginning to crack down on drug use and test tampering.
As many as ten states already have anti-cheating policies put in place to catch any foul play related to drug testing. Additionally, vulnerable industries are already taking charge, with energy, transpiration, and manufacturing industries testing their employees often. These practices build safe and sober environments to ensure that some of our most vital workers are protected while on the job.
Source: USDrugTestCenters.com