Changes under consideration in the government’s drug testing
policy could once again roil an issue that once was one of
the major points of dispute in the federal workplace but
that has since settled into an uneasy kind of truce between
labor and management. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration is considering a new policy that
would allow management at its discretion to replace urine
testing with other types of testing, including testing of
hair, saliva and sweat.
One reason cited for introducing different types of testing
is that those tests can detect use of illegal substances
going back weeks or even months, whereas urine testing
typically is most valuable only going back several days.
Most tests are performed as part of applicant screening,
on a routine basis or because of suspected drug use.
The government’s current drug testing policy was introduced
during the Reagan administration and at that time was the
subject of great controversy over the privacy implications,
the accuracy of the tests, the procedures used to select
employees to be tested, safeguards over the chain of
custody of the samples and other issues. The policy
became the subject of numerous court cases, congressional
investigations and much bad blood between management and
line employees. Broadening the types of tests available to
management could raise many of the same issues.