According to a new study from Quest Diagnostics Inc., more American workers are consuming cannabis than ever before.
About 2.7 percent of the roughly seven million drug tests administered by Quest Diagnostics came back with a positive test for cannabis use in 2020, up from 2.5 percent in 2019 and 2 percent in 2016. The 2019 number represented the greatest percentage of positive tests the company had seen in 16 years. Cannabis is the most commonly detected illicit substance in drug tests across all forms of testing (hair, urine and oral fluid).
Overall, the percentage of American workers who tested positive for any drug was 4.4 percent. A previous study has found more people were turning to cannabis over alcohol during the pandemic, with nearly 45 percent of survey respondents claiming they reduced or replaced their alcohol consumption with cannabis.
“There is no question that before COVID-19, rates of workplace drug positivity were trending in the wrong direction. Based on our Quest Diagnostics data, the enormous strain caused by COVID-19 may prove to be an accelerant on this disturbing trend,” Barry Sample, Ph.D., senior director of science and technology at Quest Diagnostics, said. “Organizations will need to consider the impact of COVID-19 not only on workplace safety but also as a health concern for their employees for some time to come.”
As more states continue to legalize cannabis in some form, either medical or recreational, many jobs and states are opting to do away with the pre-employment drug test. California recently introduced a bill that would prohibit most jobs from using a pre-employment drug test to deny an applicant a job.
The study also showed the rise of other positive drug tests due to other illicit substances. Positive tests for methamphetamine rose in the Midwest, while positive tests for cocaine rose in both the Midwest and the West.
