Hair versus urine analysis for monitoring drug abuse among employees

ABSTRACT

The Importance of the pre-employment drug test is to eliminate substance-abusing job candidates from the pool of prospective employees. By eliminating substance abusers from sensitive jobs before they ever actually enter the workplace, we are protecting the community from the dangers and hassles a drug-abusing employee presents. Hair analysis for unpriscribed drugs is not only effective, dignified, and alternative to urine testing, but also it is more sensitive and more difficult to evade. Because of these characteristics, it can used as a screening test for employees in important jobs as pilots, drivers etc. to be sure of having a drug free employee. The existing and potential advantages of the technique in diagnosing both opiate abuse and other sorts of drug abuse among employees are discussed and compared with urine detecting drug abuse tests. The data showed that hair test is more sensitive in detecting and more important in monitoring drug abuse than urine test. Also it gives the ability to quantify, detect the month of drug use and to measure changes in intake from month to month. This study recommends the use of hair as a biological test for monitoring drug abuse among employees and workers in sensitive jobs