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Worksite Drug Testing

Worksite Drug Testing Drug testing in the workplace presents a striking case of a policy instrument that has penetrated fast and far, accompanied by almost no credible scientific warrant of effectiveness. In just a decade, worksite drug testing programs have made their way through the entire military and all other federal employ­ ment, into many of the nation's largest and most prestigious private corpora­ tions, and all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Meanwhile, solid research has focused almost entirely on the efficacy of the testing procedures themselves, to the virtual exclusion of deeper questions of sound social policy. The most fundamental assumptions on competing sides of unresolved debates over the merits and demerits of screening workers' urine for traces of drugs are untested and untestable, knowing what we currently know. In fact, the gap between science and policy is so wide as to occasion real confusion about which goals are really being served by drug testing programs at work. 0163-7525/92/0501-0197$02. 00 WALSH, ELINSON & GOSTIN Goals and Types of Testing Programs Ostensibly, employers test workers' urine for drugs to ensure the safety and productivity of their own labor force and to reduce the likelihood that their employees will http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Public Health Annual Reviews

Worksite Drug Testing

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Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1992 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
0163-7525
eISSN
1545-2093
DOI
10.1146/annurev.pu.13.050192.001213
pmid
1599585
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Drug testing in the workplace presents a striking case of a policy instrument that has penetrated fast and far, accompanied by almost no credible scientific warrant of effectiveness. In just a decade, worksite drug testing programs have made their way through the entire military and all other federal employ­ ment, into many of the nation's largest and most prestigious private corpora­ tions, and all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Meanwhile, solid research has focused almost entirely on the efficacy of the testing procedures themselves, to the virtual exclusion of deeper questions of sound social policy. The most fundamental assumptions on competing sides of unresolved debates over the merits and demerits of screening workers' urine for traces of drugs are untested and untestable, knowing what we currently know. In fact, the gap between science and policy is so wide as to occasion real confusion about which goals are really being served by drug testing programs at work. 0163-7525/92/0501-0197$02. 00 WALSH, ELINSON & GOSTIN Goals and Types of Testing Programs Ostensibly, employers test workers' urine for drugs to ensure the safety and productivity of their own labor force and to reduce the likelihood that their employees will

Journal

Annual Review of Public Health – Annual Reviews

Published: May 1, 1992

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