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From: Robert Swotinsky MD
Date: 26 Dec 2004
Time: 15:10:40 -0800
Remote Name: 68.166.233.16
Urine is appropriate alternative specimen for testing someone who has no available hair. Urine doesn't go as far back in time as hair, but nothing else that's commercially available does.
In workplace settings, drug testing's primary purpose is to discourage workers from using drugs. Drug testing is not a good tool in workplace settings for exploring what people may or may not have done in the distant past. The reasons for this include:
(1) The relatively short window of detection that the tests offer,
(2) The possibility that employers may take action against people for past drug misuse, as opposed to current misuse. Someone's history of a drug abuse problem can be construed as a disability. By contrast, someone's current use of drugs is not a protected activity under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The hair testing laboratory uses cutoffs to define when the specimen is positive (at or above a predefined level) or negative (below that level). The cutoffs are used to ensure accuracy of positive reports, and to avoid positive results due to passive exposure. When the employer says it has a "zero tolerance" policy, this usually means no second chances, not testing to the limit of detection. Drug levels between the limit of detection and cutoffs may reflect "any usage at all," but they can also reflect false positives and passive exposure.