The workplace war on drugs

The Workplace War on Drugs:

Historical and Modern

Warfare

Richard Evers

Research and Development Manager,

Synergy Health

The Workplace War on Drugs: Historical and Modern Warfare

History of the War on Drugs

+ Origins of Workplace Drug Testing

+ SAMHSA

+ Drug Testing in the United Kingdom

+ Parliamentary Report/Statistics

+ Opiates

+ Legal Highs


The War on Drugs

+ Nixon Administration Slogan in 1971

+ Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act

+ Repealed mandatory minimum sentences for cannabis

possession

+ Began Federal Demand Reduction programs

+ Drug Treatment Programs

+ Appointed first Drug Czar (Robert DuPont)

+ 1973 Drug Enforcement Administration formed


Vietnam

+ US military begins drug testing (Nixon, July 1971) for rehabilitation after

tours of duty

+ 1972 DoD amnesty program results in 16,000 soldiers admitting a problem

+ September 1971 survey of returning soldiers: -

+ 45% of military had used heroin, opium, speed or barbiturates

+ Heroin was ‘constantly and universally available’

+ April 1974 – Random testing


USS Nimitz

+ 26th May 1981 off coast of Florida

+ EA6B Prowler surveillance aircraft

crashed on landing

+ 14 dead, 45 injured

+ 3 planes destroyed, 9 damaged

+ Cost $150,000,000

+ Flight crew tested positive for cannabis


President Reagan

+ December 1981

+ Authorised punitive action on results of drug tests

+ Just Say No (1986)

+ Executive order 12564 – 15th September 1986

+ Drug Free Federal Workplace


Chase, Maryland

+ 4th January 1987

+ 3 Conrail engines passed a signal and moved

onto the main line, then stopped

+ Amtrak train 94 filled with holidaymakers hit

the Conrail train at 108mph

+ 16 dead and many injured

+ Conrail drivers were smoking cannabis in the

cab

+ Congress approves Random drug testing


Exxon Valdez

+ 24th March 1989, Prince William Sound, Alaska

+ 11,000,000 barrels of oil, largest in the US

(until Deepwater Horizon)

+ Multiple causes

+ Failed radar system

+ Short staff

+ Excessive hours

+ Captain accused of being alcoholic

+ Blood Alcohol 10 hours after collision was 0.61‰

+ No preservative used


Drug Testing Legislation

Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs (1988)

+ Scientific and Technical Requirements

+ Certification of Laboratories

Model Plan for a Comprehensive Drug-Free Workplace Program (1989)

+ Specifies Cocaine, Marijuana (cannabis), Opiates, Amphetamines and PCP


SAMHSA

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

+ NIDA – National Institute on Drug Abuse

+ Drug research facility

+ Responsible for the Federal Workplace testing programs

+ Promotes rehabilitation and Employee Assistance Programs


Staten Island Ferry, 2003

• Ferry hit pier at full speed

• 71 injured

• 11 killed

• Pilot taking Tramadol

• Damages to victims >$54million

• Ferry director imprisoned for 366 days


Truck Driving in the USA

• Trucker hit a family BMW from

behind

• Car balanced over the edge of

the highway for over an hour

• Mother, 10 year old son and 10

week old baby

• Truck went through the railings –

driver killed

• Driver was high on

methamphetamine


“Truck driving is one of the deadliest jobs in America”

• Drugs present 7 times as often

as alcohol on weekend nights

• “Driving while intoxicated is

regarded as one of the leading

causes of fatal truck accidents

today”


Eltham Well Hall

+ 11th June 1972

+ Eltham, South London

+ Curve (20mph speed limit) taken at 65mph

+ Driver and 6 passengers killed, 126 injured

+ Driver BAC 2.78‰ (probably drinking in cab)


Cannon Street

+ 8th January 1991

+ 07:58 from Sevenoaks

+ Commuter train failed to stop

+ Hit buffers at 10mph

+ 2 killed, 524 injured

+ Causes

+ Old train carriages

+ Driver had cannabis in his system


Transport and Works Act 1992

+ Safety of Railways etc.

+ Simpler route to parliamentary approval of major projects

+ Part 1, Chapter 1

+ Introduced drink and drugs legislation to the railways


UK Legislation

+ Misuse of Drugs Act (1971)

+ Class A, B and C drugs

+ Criminal Justice treatment of drugs

+ Misuse of Drugs Regulations (1985 and 2001)

+ Schedules I to V

+ Healthcare requirements for drugs


UK Laboratory Guidelines for Workplace Drug Testing (2001)

+ Prepared by laboratories, taking comments from: -

+ Suppliers

+ Regulatory Bodies, and

+ Key Clients (HM Prisons, Railtrack)

+ Defined processes still followed today

+ Followed by EU Guidelines in 2002


UK Reports

+ Drug Testing in the Workplace (2004)

+ Independent enquiry

+ Drugscope

+ Joseph Rowntree Foundation

+ New Economics Foundation

+ Drug Testing on Trial (2003)

+ All Party Parliamentary Drug Misuse Group

+ 6 officers including David Cameron MP


M5 coach crash, March 2012

• Driver parked coach in the slow

lane after breaking down

• Coach hit by a lorry at 54mph

• 2 dead, 39 injured

• Roadside breath test

46µg/100mL

• Evidential breathalyser 2 hours

later below the limit

• Drink-drive conviction 12 years

ago after falling asleep and

crashing bus


Drug Use in the UK

+ British Crime Survey

+ Lifetime Cannabis use ~ 35%

+ Last month Cannabis use

+ Lifetime use of Class A drugs


UK Guidelines

+ Wider range of drugs

+ Dihydrocodeine

+ LSD

+ Methaqualone

+ Allows use of LC-MS

+ Less proscriptive

+ Not backed by the law

+ Benzodiazepines

+ Barbiturates

+ Methadone

+ Buprenorphine


Standard Tests

+ Synergy Health UDS3 drug screen

+ Opiates

+ Amphetamines

+ Cocaine

+ Methadone

+ Tests for the principle abused drugs in the UK at this time

+ Benzodiazepines

+ Cannabis

+ Barbiturates


Opiates

• Heroin

• Morphine

• Codeine & Dihydrocodeine

• Poppy seeds

• 2001 US SAMHSA raised opiate cutoff from 300 to 2000ng/mL

• Reduced number of “false positive” opiate results

• SAMHSA Guidance on opiate use

• Familial use

• MRO results on codeine


Poppy Seeds

• Determination of metabolites of poppy seeds

• Noscapine

• Papaverine

• Thebaine


Changing Drug Use

+ Barbiturates

+ Buprenorphine

+ Ketamine

+ Legal Highs

+ Steroids


The changing face of medicine

• Non-opiate painkillers

• Propoxyphene

• Oxycodone

• Tramadol

• Fentanyl

• Heroin rehabilitation treatment

• Diamorphine

• Buprenorphine

• Tranquillisers

• Barbiturate use down

• Benzodiazepine use up


Spice

+ 2008

+ JWH-018

+ Synthetic Cannabis

+ Increasing popular in prisons as it avoids

drug tests


Mephedrone

+ 2010

+ Huge press publicity

+ Several deaths attributed to ‘miaow miaow’

+ Classified by the Home Office in 2010


Novel Psychoactive Substances

+ 70+ new substances detected in 2012

+ 16 new substances by April 2013

+ Very difficult for labs to keep up with users

+ Drug Identification

+ Reference materials

+ Immunoassays

+ How can policies be worded to include these substances


Synergy Health Routine Drug Screen (2014)

+ Remove Barbiturates

+ Add Ketamine and Buprenorphine

+ Other drugs by request

+ Anabolic Steroids

+ Legal Highs

+ Specified drugs

+ Tramadol

+ PCP

+ LSD

+ Methaqualone

+ Barbiturates


Drug Driving Law

• Allows prosecution without proving impairment

• Allows medical use of prescription drugs

• Sets limits for a range of drugs

• Becomes law on March 2nd 2015


Thank you for listening

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The workplace war on drugs

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