Drug-Testing in the Workplace

The seriousness of the drug problem in the United States (US) is not open to question. The toll exacted on society and on individuals within the society in both social and economic contexts is both appalling and enormous.

It can be fairly stated that the majority of illegal drugs used in the US is imported, as opposed to being produced domestically. This assertion, however, is very general. All of the cocaine is either imported or requires the importation of coca leaves. On the other hand, however, some estimates place

domestic marijuana production ahead of imports of that substance.

Drug abuse is not a serious problem in most of the countries from which drugs are imported to the US, for the quite straightforward reason that drug abuse is so heavily punished in most of those countries. By contrast, most drug abusers in the US tend to think that they can escape detection or serious penalty. Most American politicians are fond of proclaiming that drug lords are poisoning America's youth. While the term youth requires definition, the general percept

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against drug testing in the workplace is the alleged potential for false positive results. In fact, however, the tests have attained first-test accuracy rates in the 92-to-98 percent range. Private sector employers have greater latitude in mandating drug tests than to public sector employers. First, there is no constitutional prohibition against drug testing. Second, if courts rule that mandatory drug testing constitutes unreasonable search, such a finding would apply to public sector employers, as opposed to private sector employers. For private sector employers, their employees, and the labor unions which represent those employees, therefore, mandatory drug testing in the workplace is much more a labor relations management issue than it is a legal issue. ASSESSING DRUG TESTING IN THE WORKPLACE AS A LABOR RELATIONS MANAGEMENT ISSUE Precedent for consideration of mandatory drug testing in the private sector workplace exists with respect to the AIDS (acquired immuno deficiency syndrome). AIDS has been a known disease for less than a decade. In that relatively short period of time, however, it has emerged as one of the most fearful public health problems, and as one of the most divisive social issues to ever con
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Approximate Word count = 1504
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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