If your job requires drug testing, have you heard about this new test for cocaine use?

People going to be drug testing other people’s key boards!

It won’t harm me, i don’t use.

Wall Street doesn’t drug test.

Really, I love cocaine. But it is way to expensive to use it as much as I would like. A good nose bleed night will run you about 25 bucks.

Coke has always been sort of a birthday present drug.

I don’t use the stuff either, but it makes me wonder what good drug testing does.

I know people who agreed to and have accepted random drug testing as a condition of employment.
The employer believes that requirement encourages a certain percentage of employees to avoid and refuse situations where drugs are involved. (It does.)
Furthermore, by having such a rule the employer may quickly dismiss an employee with performance issues due to drug addiction problems.

But what if a worker tests positive but has no performance issues?

If it only detects use of cocaine, it is not useful because people who use drugs will just switch to something else, usually something that is more harmful to both the user and society, like meth.

And, it does not say if it tests for being under the influence or for use within the last few hours or longer.

Cocaine by itself doesn’t impair people they way alcohol does, or make people non-responsive the way marijuana does. The biggest use of this test is for compliance with drug criminalization laws.

@cazzie They might not appear to have performance issues. But it can lead to a lapse in judgement. Would you want your doctor to work on you after snorting cocaine? Would you trust the decision of a Judge who was just dusting off the white powder from his nose? What about a bus driver or train conductor, or pilot? What about the person in the car driving right next to you or, worse, coming in the opposite direction?

And it gives the employer an easy way to fire the employee if there are performance problems down the road.

@LuckyGuy Performance problems that are related to drug and/or alcohol abuse may require accommodation by the employer for the employee to get clean.

@zenvelo If the company was “magnanimous” they might include substance abuse treatment in their benefit packages. However, if there was a “zero tolerance” rule it might be within their right to discharge or suspend the employee without pay.

i was trying to think of jobs where it would not matter if the employee was either on the substance or suffering withdrawal from it. Maybe an artist could get by in that codition.

Flipping burgers? Nope. They might get burned on the grill. Customer service? Nope. They might not be tolerant of customer requests.The only professions I can think of is maybe: artist, musician, or clothing designer.

I would not want a financial adviser or stock broker making decisions in an altered state. Would you? “Dude! Let’s bet the entire 401k on this month’s SWHC Call options! You’ll thank me for it later! Trust me!”

Alcohol is legal. Do they test for that?