Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features Quest Diagnostics’ release of the results of its Drug Testing Index, which provides insights into trends in workforce drug use based on positivity rates of de-identified laboratory tests performed by Quest for a range of illicit, legal and prescription drugs.
Key findings included that the rate of positive drug test results in the workforce reached its highest since 2001 last year, and was up more than 30% in the combined U.S. workforce from an all-time low in 2010-2012. After five years of steady declines in several drug categories, positivity rates based on urine drug tests for the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce increased in 2021, as marijuana increased 8.9%, amphetamines increased 7.8%, cocaine increased 5.0%. Positivity rates for marijuana in the general U.S. workforce also increased, and based on more than 6 million urine tests, continued an upward climb, increasing 8.3%.