Drug and Alcohol Testing

CannAmm offers several drug testing technologies including oral fluids, urine testing, and hair samples. Samples for drug testing are collected by highly trained personnel and, in the case of urine laboratory testing, samples are analyzed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) approved labs to ensure a gold standard.
 

All test results are verified by a qualified Medical Review Officer and are transmitted to the employer’s representative electronically. CannAmm’s advanced electronic reporting system has allowed us to report passing drug testing results within 36 to 72 hours of collection when using Laboratory testing and less than 4 hours using other Point of Collection Technologies. 

 

When To Test

• Pre-employment / pre-access drug and alcohol testing helps to prevent hiring individuals who may be a safety threat to themselves and others in a safety-sensitive workplace. Applicants undergo a drug test after being given a conditional offer of employment. Testing is administered at a medical clinic and any positives are re-tested and confirmed and to ensure court worthy reliability.

• Post incident / post accident drug and alcohol testing provides data to use as a tool in analyzing the causes of workplace incidents. Testing needs to be done as quickly as possible post incident.  Alcohol testing needs to be done within 8 hours and the drug test needs to be done within 32 hours.

• Reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing is performed by trained company management and supervisor personnel to collect data to help confirm or disprove substance abuse. CannAmm provides training programs for organizations to ensure testing is done within policy and required timelines. 

• Random drug and alcohol testing uses a predetermined percentage of the total workforce as an ongoing deterrent to drug and alcohol use in the workplace. The random selection and record keeping is handled by CannAmm to ensure an arm’s-length process.

 

 

Reasons to perform drug and alcohol testing
 

• To deter drug and alcohol use in the workplace to provide a safe working environment

• Prevent hiring individuals who pose a safety risk

• Identify employees who have alcohol and/or drug problems and serve as a foundation for extensive assessment, rehabilitation, and return-to-work processes

• Undertake due diligence through data collection to reduce organizational risk and liability

• Help retain responsible and good employees who value safety

• Demonstrate an elevated sense of social responsibility to the communities you work in

• Comply with industry and/or Department of Transportation regulations

 

 

Regulations and Testing Methodology
 

The US Department of Transportation (US DOT) program came to Canada in 1996 as a result of the NAFTA agreement. The US DOT programs utilize the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) / The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) certified laboratory to perform drug testing on urine specimens. Urine was the first testing technology that was used in the workplace drug testing arena. It is still the gold standard today. New technologies have emerged over the years. Hair testing can detect drug use over the last 3 months, while oral fluid or saliva testing provides a closer determination of the drug level currently in an individual’s blood stream. The new technologies have pros and cons. It is important to note that neither hair nor oral fluid testing has been sanctioned by US DOT and no DHHS/SAMHSA process is in place to certify any laboratories to perform testing using these new matrices.
 

CannAmm can provide testing by all the current means available but believes that companies should match its workplace drug testing technology selection to its business needs, keeping in mind the validity and defensibility of the technology used. A CannAmm sales representative will be able to help you through this decision-making process.

Although CannAmm has honed all of our administrative activities around improving turnaround time, it is still important for our clients to know that there are factors largely outside of the control of CannAmm such as courier services in certain locations and the overall test results (positive results require verification by a certified MRO this can add 1-3 business days to the process) which ultimately influence the overall timelines.

Below are some of the technologies and a simple explanation of the business need they may meet.

Laboratory Based Urine Testing

When an employer has the time to wait 24 to 48 hours for the drug test result then laboratory based urine testing is the most appropriate choice. This method has cutoff levels certified by DHHS and laboratories that are SAMHSA certified have proven that they can perform to the standards required to produce accurate results at the cutoff levels.

Instant Urine Testing

When an employer needs an immediate result then an instant urine test may be appropriate. The instant urine testing technologies utilize the DHHS certified cutoff levels but do not achieve the same accuracy levels as do laboratory-based urine tests. They are visually read and subject to interpretation by the collector. This technology is not recognized by US DOT or the COAA Model.

Laboratory Based Oral Fluid Testing

DHHS has recommended cutoff levels for oral fluid but no laboratories currently have SAMHSA certification for this technology. The recent 2010 COAA model that has advocated oral fluid testing for reasonable cause and post accident/incident testing has adopted the SAMHSA recommended cutoff levels. There are circumstances where oral fluid testing may be the best option to meet the business need. Examples of such circumstances could include (long) distance to a collection facility, or accident or reasonable cause testing. Oral fluid testing does provide a level that more closely mirrors the blood level of the drugs but contrary to popular belief oral fluid testing does not measure impairment.

Instant Oral Fluid Testing

Currently there are no instant oral fluid testing products that have FDA approval. FDA approval requires minimum precision and accuracy standards so this would lead one to believe that these devices raise a real question of accuracy. They could provide an instant result if that is the requirement to meet the business need but due to the inaccuracy are not recommended at this time. Should this technology be used it may be prudent to have laboratory confirmation of negative as well as non-negative results.