Workplace drug tests show higher rates of positivity for marijuana and other drugs.
TEXAS, USA – The “bandstand” game continues. In the first three months of this year, 1,226,000 workers left their jobs here in Texas. But 1,818,000 people have been hired for jobs. And even marijuana and other drugs this confusion, according to the latest figures, there are still 985,000 vacancies in Texas to be filled.
Beware of Drug Testing in the Workplace
If you’re considering pursuing one of these new jobs, be on the lookout for workplace drug tests. They make fun of a lot of people. Here’s the headline from Quest Diagnostics: Positive Staff Drug Test Result Hits Highest Level in Two Decades.
Last year, the company conducted 11 million drug tests for employers. Compared to 2020 last year, they found the rate of positive test results increased by 26.4% for methamphetamine, 46.6% for cocaine and 20.3% for marijuana.
Since marijuana has been legalized in many states, some employers have stopped testing it. But even where marijuana is legal, if an employer imposes a medical marijuana test, an employee or potential employee can lose their job due to a positive marijuana test. Laws and protections vary from state to state and even from workplace to workplace.
Failed a marijuana test without using marijuana?
Some people complain that they lost a job or job opportunity after failing a marijuana drug test, even though they technically did not use marijuana. Some claim to have tested positive after using legally store-bought CBD products. Many of these products come from a version of the cannabis plant called hemp. Hemp has much lower concentrations of THC, the compound in marijuana that gets you high. Hemp cultivation is legal in Texas. The smiling face of the State Commissioner of Agriculture welcomes you to the Texas Industrial Hemp Program website, which has been touted as a great new and profitable industry for Texas farmers.
Well, it turns out that hemp can be used to create a synthetic version of THC called Delta-8-THC that can get you high. The state considers it a drug and wants to ban it. However, because it comes from the legal hemp plant and is slightly different from the delta-9-THC found in cannabis, the courts settled the issue and blocked state prohibition as the court proceeded.
Legality aside, however, most workplace drug tests do not show the difference between THC derived from delta-8 THC and delta-9 THC, leading to testing challenges and both can lead to a failure in pharmacological detection.
Workplace Drug Test Results Search Map
Quest Diagnostics has a tool you can use to search by zip code group where you can see the positivity rate for different drug classes. In 2021, Texas had a higher positivity rate than the national average when workers were tested for heroin, cocaine and opiates. But Texas scored below the national average on several other drugs, including marijuana.
