Minnesota workplace drug testing: Analysis of policy and procedures

1. An employer's decision whether to drug test or not was found to correlate with the size of the company and how extensively the employer perceives a drug abuse problem exists among its work force. 2. A company's drug testing program must be designed, implemented, and evaluated within a medical-legal framework. This includes issues of: confidentiality, employee actions that trigger a drug test, the presence of a drug and alcohol policy, communicating the program to employees and unions, the employee's rights, the consequences of an employee's positive drug test, and the procedures to be followed when collecting a specimen. 3. Future studies need to explore the issue of dealing with job performance problems; in particular, the cost and effectiveness of employee drug testing vs. the use of discipline alone.