Does Your Company Have a Robust Drug Screening Process in Place? CNNMoney.com Reports That Drug Use At Work Is Higher Than We Thought.

CNNMoney.com recently published an article by Ann Fisher on a report by the drug-testing company Quest Diagnostics indicating that the number of Americans using cocaine while at work fell 29 percent between 2008 and 2009 to about 0.29% of the population. However, heroin use and prescription medication use has increased. As a matter of fact, the amount of positive heroin tests rose from 0.0008 percent to 0.04 percent between January and June 2010.

Now more than ever it is important to include a robust drug screening process as part of your company's standard pre employment screening program. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has reported the following workplace statistics:

*  77% of illegal drug users hold either full-time or part-time jobs.

*  More than 60% of adults know someone who has worked under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

*  Substance abuse costs American businesses approximately 81 billion dollars annually in lost   productivity, absenteeism and accidents.

*  500 million workdays are lost annually from employee substance abuse.

Being proactive about testing for drug usage in the pre hire process will help to ensure a healthy and safe workplace and affirm your company's drug-free workplace policy. At CARCO, we believe that drug screening, along with a thorough background check, should always be part of your pre employment screening process. Therefore we ask, Is drug screening part of your company's pre hire process? If not, it's time to up date your process.