Original article link (5-15-2024)

A recent Quest Diagnostics analysis of 9.8 million workforce drug tests for 2023 indicates a massive increase in drug test tampering and elevated positivity rates. The report states…

“The increasing rates of substituted or invalid specimens coincide with historically high rates of both general U.S. workforce drug positivity and post-accident marijuana positivity. Drug positivity in the general U.S. workforce was 5.7% in both 2022 and 2023. In 2023, in the combined U.S. workforce, urine drug positivity for all drugs was 4.6%, the same as in 2021 and 2022. This overall positivity is the highest level in more than two decades, up more than 30% from an all-time low of 3.5% in 2010-2012, and coincides with a sharp increase of 114.3% in post-accident positivity between 2015 and 2023 in the general U.S. workforce.”

“The increased rate of both substituted and invalid specimens indicates that some American workers are going to great lengths to attempt to subvert the drug testing process,” said Suhash Harwani, Ph.D., Senior Director of Science for Workforce Health Solutions at Quest Diagnostics. “Given the growing acceptance and use of some drugs, particularly marijuana, it may be unsurprising that some people feel it necessary to try and cheat a drug test. It is possible that our society’s normalization of drug use is fostering environments in which some employees feel it is acceptable to use such drugs without truly understanding the impact they have on workplace safety.”

Other report highlights:

• Drug test tampering (indicated by substituted or invalid urine specimens) in the general U.S. workforce significantly increased in 2023 (633% for substituted and 45% for invalid).
• Overall drug test positivity rate in the general U.S. workforce remained high (5.7% in 2023) and marijuana positivity specifically is on an upward trend (4.7% increase in 2023).
• There’s a concern that increased drug use might be linked to a rise in workplace accidents.
• The federally mandated safety-sensitive workforce has a lower drug positivity rate, possibly due to deterrence from drug testing.
• The report suggests a possible link between the pandemic, remote work, and increased drug use among office workers.

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