Why Businesses Should Drug Test for Opioids
When businesses drug test their employees, the primary drug employers are looking for is marijuana. Marijuana is one of the most consumed recreational drugs in America, and it is readily available to anyone. Right behind marijuana are opioids. Opioids are a hot topic when it comes to the war on drugs and can create quite the liability for businesses if employees are using them. Opioids are becoming more and more of an issue in the workplace. Businesses have to be active in ridding the employees that have the potential to create problems. By further understanding opioids and how they have infiltrated workspaces, you will know how to handle these situations in your own business.
Opiates differ from Marijuana in the fact that they stay in a person’s body for a shorter time span. Opioids pass through the body a lot faster than Marijuana thus harder to get positive results on drug tests. If a prospective employee is unaware that a company drug tests then it is more probable to get a positive result. Since these drugs have such a short life-span in someone’s body, the employer has to catch the possible employee shortly after they have used opioids otherwise it will not show up on a drug test. This is also why employers must consider random drug testing their employees throughout their time of employment to ensure workers are not sliding by with any disallowed drug use.
Any type of drug use in a work environment can turn it from a positive experience into something extremely negative. Opioids can especially create an issue for employees in the workplace. Drugs such as morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone are some of the most popular opioids consumed in American society. The biggest issue when it comes to these drugs is that they are readily available. Prescription painkillers are in high demand and overcrowd our streets. Drug testing for opioids is a tricky situation since they don’t stay in the body long and can be easily missed in a drug test. This is why businesses have to be educated on the different types of drug tests that can be administered to employees and how long they can detect drug use in a person’s body.
The drug epidemic is an extremely pertinent issue not only in just the workplace but also the country. Drug testing in the workplace has become more common with the rise in recreational drug use. To avoid unnecessary work place incidents caused by drug use either on the job or outside of the job, businesses must be proactive in keeping their employees healthy. By weeding out the employees who can potentially turn a work environment into a negative space, your business can further thrive without the concern of any workplace incidents.
