Positive drug tests among workers increase for second straight year: report

Madison, NJ – The rate of positive tests for illegal drugs in the general workforce increased for the second consecutive year following a decade of decline, according to lab services provider Quest Diagnostics.

More than 10 million urine, hair and oral fluid test results from 2014 were examined for the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index. Workers from private companies (general workforce), workers subject to federal testing and combined groups were analyzed.

The rate of positive urine tests in the general workforce was 4.7 percent – a 9.3 percent increase from 2013.

The illegal drug found most often was marijuana, the report states. The rate of positive tests in the general workforce was 2.4 percent, an increase of 14.3 percent. The increases were similar in Washington and Colorado, which have legalized recreational use of marijuana.

The rate of positive amphetamine tests in the general workforce was 1.04 percent, the highest since Quest began reviewing data in 1988, and increased 7.2 percent from 2013. The positivity rate for methamphetamine (0.33 percent) was the highest since 2007, increasing 37.5 percent.