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Employee drug use is a huge problem in the United States. As of 2003, nearly 10% of the working population or 15 million workers were using drugs while holding full-time or part-time positions. This is a huge decrease since the 1990’s, yet it is still a problem. Employers have been trying to find ways to combat this problem due to the huge unfortunate impact it has on business. Drug test kits make it easier for employers to determine which of their workers are using drugs.
Drug use among employees has tremendous financial consequences. Employers report that it costs them nearly twice as much to keep drug abusers medically insured than their sober counterparts. Drug use increases medical insurance claims, on-site injuries, absenteeism, and other adverse effects on the company. Studies show that drug users are three times more likely to use sick days and file for worker’s compensation five times more than sober employees. To fight back against these financially disastrous effects, employers are using drug test kits to eliminate the workers that cause these negative outcomes.
There are numerous types of drug test kits. Employers can get urine, hair, blood, saliva, and breath samples from their employees to determine drug use. Blood and breath drug tests establish current drug use among workers. To determine the previous use of drugs, employers may resort to testing hair or urine. These tests can pick up chemical traces that the drugs leave behind up to several days after the last drug intake. Most companies are partial to the drug test kits that examine hair, saliva or the breath, because they are less invasive. These tests can be administered under the direct supervision of a physician. This prevents the employee from tampering with samples or submitting false biological samples. The only disadvantage of a drug test kit that requires hair samples is that it can give a false positive result. For example, someone who does not smoke marijuana will test positive for it if he were in the presence of someone who does smoke it.
Still, the overall benefits of these convenient drug test kits outweigh the disadvantages. They are relatively inexpensive to purchase. They are available through online retailers or at popular drugstores. These kits are a great investment for any company. Studies show that when drug users were rehabilitated or replaced by non-drug users, productivity increased while absenteeism, mistakes, and injuries decreased by at least ninety percent.
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