Fentanyl being added to drug testing programs for federal workers

Washington — The Department of Health and Human Services is including fentanyl in its drug testing panels for federal workplace programs. 

Under a rule published Jan. 15, HHS is revising its panels for Schedule I and II drugs and biomarkers authorized for urine and oral fluid testing. The rule is set to go into effect July 7. So far, however, HHS hasn’t approved any biomarker tests for use with federal workplace drug testing specimens.

The agency says it reviewed 176 public comments from 118 commenters and, of those commenters, only three opposed the addition of fentanyl to federal drug testing panels.

In addition to fentanyl, the department is adding norfentanyl to the testing panels. Norfentanyl is a metabolite of fentanyl and an immediate precursor used in the illicit manufacturing of fentanyl. 

Based on information from non-regulated workplace drug testing and studies, HHS says, it’s estimated that 0.1% to 0.3% of submitted federal workplace urine specimens will test positive for fentanyl and/or norfentanyl.

HHS had proposed removing methylenedioxyamphetamine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine from the testing panels because the number of positive specimens reported by HHS-certified labs didn’t support testing. However, the department decided not to remove them from the panels at this time.