The rate of workforce drug positivity hit a 14-year high in 2018, according to a new analysis released on April 11 by Quest Diagnostics.
Positivity rates in the combined U.S. workforce increased nearly five percent in urine drug tests (4.4 percent in 2018 vs. 4.2 percent in 2017), climbing to the highest level since 2004 (4.5 percent). The rates are now more than 25 percent higher than the 30-year low of 3.5 percent recorded between 2010 and 2012.
“Our in-depth analysis shows that marijuana is not only present in our workforce, but use continues to increase,” said Barry Sample, Ph.D., senior director of science and technology at Quest Diagnostics. “As marijuana policy changes, and employers consider strategies to protect their employees, customers, and the general public, employers should weigh the risks that drug use, including marijuana, poses to their business.”
Marijuana continues to top the list of the most commonly detected illicit substances across all workforce categories (general U.S. workforce; federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce; and combined U.S. workforce, which includes the prior two populations) and specimen types (urine, oral fluid, and hair).
The rate of marijuana positivity increased in nearly all workforce categories. In the general U.S. workforce, marijuana positivity increased nearly eight percent in urine testing (2.8 percent in 2018 vs. 2.6 percent in 2017) and almost 17 percent since 2014 (2.4 percent). For the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce, which utilizes only urine testing, marijuana positivity grew nearly five percent between 2017 (0.84 percent) and 2018 (0.88 percent) and nearly 24 percent since 2014 (0.71 percent).
In the general U.S. workforce, the positivity rate for opiates in urine drug testing declined across all opiate categories. Among the general workforce screening for opiates — mostly codeine and morphine — positivity declined nearly 21 percent between 2017 and 2018 (0.31 percent in 2018 vs. 0.39 percent in 2017), the largest drop in three years and a nearly 37 percent decrease since the peak in 2015 (0.49 percent).
Among the more specific tests for other prescription opiates, the positivity for semisynthetic opiates — hydrocodone and/or hydromorphone — declined two percent between 2017 (0.51 percent) and 2018 (0.50 percent) and 43 percent since the five-year high in 2014 (0.88 percent). Similarly, the positivity for oxycodones — oxycodone and/or oxymorphone — declined more than 29 percent between 2017 (0.61 percent) and 2018 (0.43 percent) and more than 46 percent since the five-year high in 2014 (0.80 percent).
Urine drug test results for the general U.S. workforce for heroin, indicated by the presence of the 6-acetylmorphine (6-AM) metabolite, declined six percent (0.031 percent in 2018 vs. 0.033 percent in 2017) and more than 16 percent since its peak in 2015 and 2016 (0.037 percent). Cocaine positivity declined nearly seven percent in urine and more than 19 percent in oral fluid testing, but increased slightly year-over-year (6.3 percent) in hair testing.
Both heroin and cocaine positivity in the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce showed large declines between 2017 and 2018. Heroin positivity declined nearly 32 percent between 2017 (0.019 percent) and 2018 (0.013 percent), with a decrease of more than 43 percent since 2015 (0.023 percent). Positivity for cocaine in 2018 declined nearly 10 percent compared with 2017 (0.28 percent in 2018 vs. 0.31 percent in 2017), when the positivity rate was the highest in more than five years.
Click here to view an interactive map with positivity rates and trend lines by three-digit zip code in the United States.
The June issue of Water Well Journal® will feature a Safety Matters column on opioids and the workplace.