According to Australia’s National Drug and Alcohol Research Center, over 200 million people throughout the world use illegal drugs.   No surprise that marijuana was the leading drug used (an estimated 203 million people), followed by amphetamines, cocaine and opiates.

The study also estimates that of the 200 million users, 39 million are considered problematic users.  And most of these drug users, whether problematic or not, live in developed countries, meaning a significant portion of them are either currently employed or seeking employment.

Why should employers care?  Well, beyond the obvious of workplace incidents, illegal drug users cost employers billions of dollars a year due to soaring health care costs and sick days.  And they don’t need to be a problematic drug users to cause these issues.

To help mitigate the risk associated with drug use, employers should consider establishing a substance abuse screening program as part of their overall employment screening strategy.  For more information on how to establish a drug free workplace, check out the video below.

We wanted to congratulate our strategic partner, eScreen, the premier leader in the drug screening industry, for relaunching their website, www.escreen.com.  Jason and I had the pleasure of meeting with their group in Kansas City earlier this week and are more enthusiastic than ever about the great benefits they bring to our clients.

Sorry for the sales pitch, but you just wouldn’t believe how we’ve been able to improve the quality of our clients’ occupational testing experience while saving them time and money.   To learn more, check out our new substance abuse screening site.

Sick of waiting around for your drug test results to complete?  One of the reasons we’re so excited about our new strategic alliance with eScreen is that they offer the industry’s only instrumented 15 minute negative urine screen.  They have equipped over 2,200 collection sites with their patented technology which allows the actual site to conduct the test as opposed to sending the sample to a lab and waiting for them to process.

Check out a quick video for how this e-Cup technology is revolutionizing the employment screening industry.  And it’s all available to you through the EmployeeScreenIQ portal.

Earlier this week, EmployeeScreenIQ announced  a new Web-based drug testing solution that eliminates chain-of-custody paperwork, enables online scheduling and provides real-time analysis and reporting. The new solution is the result of a partnership with eScreen, a pioneering provider of employment screening technology and Web-based applications.

Rather than share bullet points on the benefits of our new solution, we thought we’d show you a quick video to see how it works.  Enjoy!

Today, EmployeeScreenIQ announced a new Web-based drug testing solution that eliminates chain-of-custody paperwork, enables online scheduling and provides real-time analysis and reporting. The new solution is the result of a partnership with eScreen, a pioneering provider of employment screening technology and Web-based applications.

The pre-integrated and fully-automated drug testing solution drastically accelerates the background screening process by slashing turnaround times through online event scheduling and allows for Web-based, real-time analysis at the collection site and secure, confidential Web reporting to the employer.

Instead of printing chain-of-custody forms and handing them to candidates, who then have to take them to a laboratory, the form is created electronically at the collection location. Once an employee completes their test, results can be obtained within 15 minutes if the results are negative—as opposed to the traditional lab-based model timeframe of 24-48 hours.

The solution is supported by a national network of over 2,300 occupational health clinics that collect and analyze samples and immediately report five-panel results using eScreen’s proprietary eCup™ and eReader™ drugs of abuse screening technology. For full details on the service, visit http://employeescreen.com/sascreening.asp.

“This partnership with eScreen not only provides our customers with significant cost savings, but it also streamlines the recruiting and staffing processes by making the background screening experience significantly more efficient,” said Nick Fishman, chief marketing officer for EmployeeScreenIQ. “By including a completely paperless chain-of-custody drug testing solution, our customers now have an easy and affordable way to purchase tests online.”

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The state of Tennessee seems to be taking a cue from the federal government by introducing a bill which would make it illegal to sell synthetic urine in their state for the purpose of defeating drug tests.  The bill is currently awaiting the governor’s approval.  Seems like a no-brainer to me!

Bill to Make it Illegal to Sell Fake Urine

The Associated Press

NASHVILLE (AP) – A proposal that would make it illegal in Tennessee to sell fake urine for the purpose of falsifying a drug test is headed to the governor for his consideration.

The measure sponsored by Democratic Sen. Doug Jackson of Dickson was unanimously approved by the Senate Monday evening. The companion bill also passed the House unanimously last month.

Jackson says the measure is needed to help companies that do drug testing. He says individuals who use fake urine to try to beat the system create a “public safety issue” because many companies are trying to maintain a drug-free environment.

The legislation would provide an exception for “bona fide educational, medical, and scientific purposes.”

Gov. Phil Bredesen has not said whether he will approve the measure.

Read the bill:  SB3008/HB2762

After numerous delays, the Federal Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania handed down sentencing for Gerald Wills and Robert Catalano, President and Vice President of the now defunct Puck Technology, Inc. for conspiring to defraud the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) by marketing and selling via their websites devices aimed to help defeat federal, and federally regulated, employment urine drug tests.  Wills and Catalano operated websites that sold products such as “Go Number 1″ and “The Whizzinator” , prosthetic devices that would allow both men and women to pass urine drug tests under direct observation (you may remember that ex-NFLer Onterrio Smith was a fan of this product).

The pair pleaded guilty to this charge in December of 2008 and it took almost a full year and a half for a verdict.  Having followed this story diligently during this time, I expected a little heavier sentence, being a federal case and all.  But, as it turns out, Wills received a sentence of six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.  Catalano received only three years probation.  Puck Technology, Inc. received a sentence of forfeiture of all its assets and dissolution.  These two got off easy, if you ask me!

This case might just be the tip of the iceberg.  There are still many websites out there claiming to sell products that mask drugs in urine.  I expect to see a lot more cases like this in the future.

Click to read “Two Business Owners Sentenced for Conspiring to Defeat Federal Drug Tests”

Maybe it was the snow and ice that kept them away. Or, maybe it was the $5,000 plus buy-in that made so many medical marijuana dispensary owners shy away from applying for their Denver operating licenses on Monday.

Whatever the reason, only 26 applicants showed up on opening day at the office of excise and licenses to make application to legally dispense medical marijuana – and six of those were turned away for inadequate paperwork.  20 applicants out of some 450 holders of dispensary sales tax licenses.

All of a sudden, it doesn’t quite sound like the wild west anymore.  The deadline for applying is March 1, so anyone serious about supplying cannabis will need to hurry.

According to the Denver Post, “The application includes a background check with fingerprinting.  Owners pay a $2,000 application fee, the cost of background checks and a $3,000 annual license fee, and must not have been convicted of a felony or served a felony sentence in the last five years.  If the application is denied, the $3,000 license fee will be refunded.”

Some dispensary owners may be re-thinking their commitment based on legislation that is currently flying through the statehouse that will establish yet another layer of bureaucracy (a marijuana licensing authority) and an additional slate of yet-to-be-determined fees. The Colorado Statesman reports that “The Massey-Romer medical marijuana bill would establish an 18-month moratorium on new marijuana business while allowing existing operations to transition over the same period into non-profit health centers subject to rules modeled on the state’s liquor code.”

So, in addition to $5,000 worth of Denver fees and sales taxes plus state fees and taxes, Denver dispensary owners would have to pay lawyers to rework their corporate documents to comply with nonprofit requirements.

Patients may want to consider buying up a supply soon because it looks like the price of medicine is going to go way up.

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In a monumental decision this weekend the Obama administration is changing the governments course on federal marijuana laws.  According to the Associated Press:

Federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

This puts many U.S. Employers and the U.S. Government as an employer in an ethical quandary.  Many employers use extensive background screening services such as EmployeeScreenIQ to screen potential candidates.  As part of this process substance abuse testing may be included.  Many employers use the Department of Transportation‘s (DOT) drug free workplace policies as a standard.  With fourteen states already allowing medical marijuana one can only wonder how these employers are supposed to react to these new policies.

This blog is not intended to start a “for or against” type of debate but more so to see how employers will react to the news.  In Ohio we don’t have medical marijuana but its gaining momentum.  Ohio is has great incentives for employers to create drug free workplaces.  Should it pass here it could create a tidal wave of questions from employers!

Feds to Issue New Medical Marijuana Policy

WASHINGTON – Federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes, the officials said.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

California is unique among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries — businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana use.

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Do you remember the Onterrio Smith scandal?  You know, the one where he was caught with “The Original Whizzinator” at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and subsequently suspended by the Minnesota Vikings for the entire 2005 season?  I’m sure it’s coming back to you now!

It turns out Mr. Smith left this piece of NFL history behind in a storage locker somewhere in Minnesota and it was put up for auction.  And yes, there was a buyer.

It’s true what they say:  One man’s trash really is another man’s treasure.

And the buyer of the ‘Whizzinator’ is…

A sports bar owner in Mankato revealed himself Sunday as the purchaser of “The Original Whizzinator,” and he said he intends to use the device that made Onterrio Smith infamous to raise the profile of his own establishment.

“I want to be the new training camp headquarters for the Vikings,” said Matt Little, the owner of Buster’s Sports Bar & Grill in Mankato.

The Whizzinator will be encased in glass at his bar’s memorabilia section next to jerseys of two Twin Cities sports superstars, Adrian Peterson and Justin Morneau.

Little recalled his reaction when he heard the Shakopee Auction Center was going to sell the device, which Smith was caught possessing at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in May 2005.

“I thought, ‘You got to be kidding me,’ ” Little said.

But Little, who had a prior engagement, was determined to take ownership of the device, recruiting a purchaser and giving him a $1,000 budget.

Little had someone place the winning bid of $750 for him Friday night at the Shakopee Auction Center.

Now Little wants to reunite the Whizzinator with its original owner.

“I got a guy who knows Onterrio, so we want to do a reunion,” he said. “How classic would that be?”

— Sean Jensen, Pioneer Press – August 31, 2009

NOTE: The makers of “The Original Whizzinator”, George Wills and Robert Catalano, are due to be sentenced in federal court on October 8, 2009.  They are charged with conspiring to defraud the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the federal agency that oversees federally mandated drug testing programs.  Both face up to eight years in prison and/or hefty fines for manufacturing and selling the device via their company website.