There are testing methods available that detect ACTUAL IMPAIRMENT on the job, while not:
Cross-reacting with prescription or OTC meds...
Requiring the degrading ritual of peeing in a cup...
Penalizing an employee for what they may choose to do in their off-work hours...
Treating every employee like a criminal suspect...
Preferentially catching employees who smoke marijuana (which lingers in the urine much longer), as opposed to users of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other hard drugs which clear in a day or 2....
A quick Google on "Fitness for Duty testing" will turn up several devices that test reflexes and mental alertness before a work shift begins, which will not only catch anyone who reports for work high on illegal drugs, but people who are impaired due to lack of sleep, mental stress, or any other reason (which urine testing does absolutely NOTHING to catch).
If employers REALLY cared about workplace safety, as opposed to making the insurance companies and Big Brother at the DEA happy, such testing techniques would quickly replace the pointless "whiz quiz".
Judging employees on their WORK PERFORMANCE, rather than the chemical makeup of their urine always seemed like a good idea to me...
[This message has been edited by NJwirenut (edited 04-11-2006).]
