ACLU News Wire
January 12, 1998

Though it was virtually unheard of 15 years ago, the Chicago Sun-Times says that manatory drug testing in the workplace has spread faster than marijuana smoke at a Grateful Dead concert. Testing requirements now blanket millions of people nationwide --especially job seekers. And technology is improving to the point that it's difficult, if not impossible, for drug users to escape the net of some advanced tests.

The Chicago Police Department is the most recent employer here to crack down on drug users. But the latest sweep isn't in the streets, the newspaper says. It's in the recruitment ranks. Job applicants are now screened through hair samples, a cutting-edge technology that can extend the reach of a drug test almost 90 times for most substances.

No profession, it seems is immune. Virtually all of the Fortune 200 companies -- the nation's largest firms --require their employees or job candidates to submit to some kind of drug testing, the Sun-Times said. Pre-employment screening -- requiring a job applicant to take a drug test as a condition of employment--is the most common practice. Nationwide, 44 percent of workers say their bosses require some form of drug testing, according to a federal survey. It's no different in Chicago. Of the area's 10 largest private employers surveyed by the Sun-Times, the nine firms that responded all require some kind of drug testing.

Despite the nationwide testing boom, civil liberties groups remain staunchly opposed to any form of testing -- even for cops. "You might as well crumple up a copy of the Bill of Rights and put it in the cup before you [urinate] into it," said William Spain, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. An employer's sole concern, Spain told the Sun-Times, should be whether a worker is impaired. And drug testing, he said, won't measure impairment on the job. "We don't approve of airline pilots flying stoned or drunk -- or even depressed, for that matter," Spain said. "But simple dexterity tests for transportation workers, which would simply tell employers whether you were capable of working that shift, are much more effective."

All the drug testing -- and acceptance of drug testing --has created a boon for the testing industry. SmithKline Beecham, one of the nation's largest testing firms, has done 24 million drug tests in the last 10 years. Boston-based Psychemedics Corp. holds the patent for the hair-drug analysis process and has been using the technology since 1987. Though urinalysis remains the most common method of testing, Psychemedics' sales have boomed in the last few years.

In 1992, Psychemedics had $3.9 million in sales. By 1996, sales had tripled to $12.2 million, according to company reports. The company says it has more than 1,000 corporate clients nationwide, including big names such as General Motors Corp. and Chicago-based WMX Technologies, parent of Waste Management. More than 30 police departments, including New York City and Chicago, use Psychemedics to test police recruits, said Raymond Kubacki Jr., president and chief executive officer of Psychemedics.

The hair test can detect drugs that were taken 90 days before a sample was gathered. Most drugs can escape detection through urinalysis within a few days. The test requires a swath of hair that is roughly the width of a pencil and about 1.5 inches long. If someone is bald, body hair samples are taken.