Drug testing shows increased positives

Positive tests for illicit drugs among workers are at their highest level in more than 10 years.

That was the finding of lab services provider Quest Diagnostics whose researchers analyzed more than 10 million drug tests and found that 4.2 percent of the U.S. workforce tested positive for illicit drugs for the second straight year. That number is the highest since 2004 when 4.5 percent tested positive. As recently as 2012, the number of positives was just 3.5 percent.

Meth use increased between 9 percent and 25 percent in the Midwest, East and South.

Cocaine use increased for the fifth consecutive year. The increases were also found in workers such as pilots and commercial vehicle operators who are subject to federally required drug testing.

In two states where recreational marijuana has been legalized since 2016, the company found the highest increases in positive tests for the drug. Nevada workers showed a 43 percent increase in positive tests and Massachusetts workers tested positive 14 percent more often. Nine
states overall and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana use.

A bright spot in the report was that positive tests for opiates declined 17 percent.