Cocaine Use in Workforce Rises for Fifth Year

Drug use by the American workforce remains at its highest rate in more than a decade, with marijuana use rising in states that legalized it recreationally, according to an analysis by Quest Diagnostics Inc.

The firm said it examined more than 10 million workplace drug test results and found that increases in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana resulted in a positivity rate for the combined U.S. workforce of 4.2 percent in 2017. That is the same percentage as in 2016 but a dramatic increase over the 3.5 percent positivity rate from 2012, which was a 30-year low.

Researchers believe the analysis of 2017 data suggests shifting patterns of drug use, with cocaine and amphetamines use surging in some areas of the country and marijuana use rising sharply in states with newer recreational use statutes.

The positive test rate for cocaine increased for the fifth consecutive year in the general U.S. workforce across every specimen type. In urine testing, the most common, the rate for cocaine increased 7 percent, compared to increases of less than 1 percent in 2016 and 2017. The analysis revealed year-over-year increases in oral fluid testing (up 16 percent) and hair testing (19 percent).

Between 2013 and 2017, methamphetamine positivity increased between 140 percent and 167 percent in regions nationwide.

Marijuana positivity also continued its five-year upward trajectory in urine testing. The number of workers testing positive for marijuana increased 4 percent in the general workforce and nearly 8 percent in the safety-sensitive workforce. Increases in positive test rates for marijuana were highest in states that have enacted recreational use statutes since 2016.

Source: Business Insurance