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General => Other Discussion => Boards => Archive => Debates => Topic started by: Aliento on September 13, 2008, 07:37:27 am
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Employers frequently perform routine drug tests on prospective employees... but is that justifiable?
One could argue that yes, it is. By making sure an employee isn't using drugs, they can be more assured about performance. Nobody wants employees with impaired abilities, right?
On the other hand, one could also argue that it's none of an employer's business what an employee does in his or her spare time. As long as they come to work on time and get the job done, what does it matter? Not to mention, there's evidence that the type of drug tests most commonly used by employers have a certain rate of false positives.
So how do you all feel about the issue? Is it right for employers to require drug tests?
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It's an employers right to hire people who don't put them at risk, and sadly, someone who abuses illegal narcotics takes the risk of getting caught and not showing up for work.
It's completely justifiable. Has nothing to do with spare time, it has to do with potentially impeding on the employers business's wellbeing.
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To support Aliento's point about false positives, anyone with a relatively simple knowledge of biology/chemistry would be able to create false negatives; there are certain painkillers that you can take in combination - some of them controlled substances, some not - that will create a negative result on a test for those drugs (in case you're interested in the biology, it's by competitive inhibition).
Not only that, but very innocuous things can also create false positives, such as poppy seeds; as they contain very trace amounts of the same chemicals in opium, morphine and heroin (for obvious reasons), they can trigger a positive response. And, obviously, prescription drugs can trigger positive results for their more illicit counterparts.
I say that unless a test can be proven to be 100% effective against a false positive, then they shouldn't be used. to be accused of dabbling in illicit drugs - based on a faulty test - and thereby denied a job or even fired seems inexcusable on a moral basis.
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However; follicle testing, etc have more accurate results than your standard screening. There are other more efficient methods that help them determine if something is a "poppy seed" or an "opiate"... :p