Quest Diagnostics, an organization that manages millions of workplace drug tests for employers, released initial findings from their 2022 Drug Testing Index, which is based on over 11 million urine, hair, and oral fluid drug test results collected between January and December of 2021.
According to the analysis, the rate of positive drug tests is higher than ever before, with an overall positivity rate of 4.6% across tested employees/employee candidates. Though this analysis focused on various types of drugs, many marijuana findings were uncovered.
Positivity rates for marijuana in the general workforce increased 8.3% in 2021. Overall, the marijuana positivity rate increased 50% from 2017 to 2021, with 3.9% of employees/candidates in 2021 testing positive for marijuana.
The study looked at 17 different industries, with marijuana positivity rates increasing in all industries. In 15 of those industries, the marijuana positivity rate increased by at least 10%. The Accommodation and Food Service industry saw the greatest increase in marijuana positivity rates, with 7.5% of that workforce testing positive for marijuana. Overall, from 2017 to 2021, marijuana positivity increased 114.3% in the Accommodation and Food Service industry.
Positivity rates for marijuana in federally mandated, safety sensitive positions increased by 8.9% in 2021, creating some concern for workplace safety.
Full findings from Quest Diagnostics are expected to be published soon. For additional information on marijuana in the workplace, Healthesystems recently published a new article on marijuana and workplace safety in the new Summer 2022 edition of RxInformer.
