Friends and Foes of Workplace Drug Testing Square Off

Abstract

Drug testing in the workplace, carried out in the context of a welldesigned, comprehensive program of drug education and employee assistance, is an essential element in industry efforts to defeat employee drug abuse, increase efficiency, and ensure workplace safety. In the hands of drug-testing professionals, the technology is virtually errorfree. That's one view. Drug testing in the workplace, although probably strictly legal because it is not being imposed by a government body, is a repugnant invasion of privacy in theory and an exercise in personal humiliation in practice. Because anyone can set up a drug-testing laboratory, the reliability of testing can vary enormously, and the price of sloppy procedures is the potential destruction of an innocent individual's career. That's another view. Take your pick. Speakers staked out both positions at a symposium on the technical, legal, and ethical issues of drug testing in the workplace sponsored by the Division of Professional Relations. The symposium got ...