Members of the National Association of Collection Sites (NACS) have overwhelmingly approved the association's name change to the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA). Effective September 1, 1998, NACS will formally become DATIA.

As part of the association's growth over the past three years, it became clear that members provide many services beyond collections, including third party administration (TPA), consortium services, alcohol testing, medical review and laboratory services. The association's new name encompasses the host of services members provide.

Another reason for this name change came out of a recent meeting with congress regarding the Drug-Free Workplace Act (see related story). The association met with key congressional officials to discuss the association's concerns with the bill. Congress did not understand the "collection industry's" concern over the bill because the bill could have a negative impact on consortiums, substance abuse professionals and third party administrators, but not collection sites that handle only collections. Congress did not realize that much of the association's membership provides these services.

In a letter to members asking for their vote on the name change, Jeffrey C. Smith, the association's President, stated that the "principal reason the Board and I are proposing this change is due to the broad spectrum of drug and alcohol testing industry

members NACS now represents. In order for NACS to keep pace with the changing drug and alcohol testing industry and its membership, and to address the issues in Washington that need attention, it must also change how it presents itself to the public, the government, and its own members."

According to DATIA, the association will continue to emphasize the importance of trained, qualified collectors through legislative and regulatory outreach and the accreditation program. "Clearly our expertise is in collections and we will continue to focus on those issues, however, we will expand our legislative agenda and member services to include the broad spectrum of services offered by our members. Over 94 percent of our members are in favor of this and we will continue to provide high quality services to meet our members' needs."

As one member put it, "Clearly the association has grown and there is a need for an expanded scope. In addition, we need to be a player in Congress. This is the best thing that could have happened to the industry; as our business grows and expands so should our professional association!"

Information and materials with the DATIA logo will be in the mail soon.

The association has galvanized the drug and alcohol testing industry in support of what is probably the most important piece of legislation affecting the workplace ever to come out of Congress. The Drug-Free Workplace Act (S 2203, HR 3853) has the potential to introduce the benefits of drug testing to the small business community which historically does not provide drug- and alcohol-testing programs despite the fact that they employ a majority of drug users in the United States. To ensure that Congress enacts the most effective legislation possible, DATIA implemented a seven-point legislative education and advocacy program.

The bill represents a groundbreaking effort to encourage and promote drug testing in the small business community by encouraging worker's compensation and insurance premium reductions as well as tax deductions for companies adopting a drug-testing program. However, the association is concerned that there is one provision that would authorize taxpayer funding for non-profits to compete against commercial third party administrators, substance abuse professionals, and consortiums that already supply these services. To be clear, the association is supportive of non-profits, foundations and private industry in providing workplace drug testing. However, DATIA is not supportive of federal money being used for services that are in duplication of services provided by different entities that are not eligible for the same funds.

In order to advocate this issue to Congress, the association coordinated a comprehensive lobbying campaign that has included the following:

(1) The association, via email, quickly got the word out to members that legislation critical to the drug testing community was being voted on in the House and being considered by the Senate. The association requested general support of the bill from members and asked them to voice concern about possible competition between non-profits using Federal funds and private industry when providing drug testing services.

(2) The association sent personalized letters to over 200 members in 18 key states addressed to their Senators. These letters, created by DATIA, stated support for the bill and included the member's letterhead. Only a member signature was needed before being mailed in the accompanying pre-addressed and stamped envelope. Over half of these letters were sent to the Senators.

(3) The association met with the office of Senator Paul Coverdell (R-GA), the office of Representative Rob Portman (R-OH), (the Senator and Representative who introduced the bill), and the US Chamber of Commerce to discuss the association's concern regarding the possible competition between non-profits and for-profit members.

(4) The association sent all 1,000 members a legislative update on this issue and a sample letter to the Senate stating support for the bill, but also indicating concern about the possibility of unfair competition. Members were asked to copy the letter onto their letterhead and to send the letter to their Senators. In addition, DATIA requested that they contact their local Chamber of Commerce indicating concern about the competition issue.

(5) The association met with key senatorial staff to garner their support for the Drug-Free Workplace Act and to indicate concern about the competition issues. The association met with staff from the offices of Senator Snowe (R-ME), Senator Faircloth (R-NC), Senator Kempthorne (R-ID), Senator Warner (R-VA) and Senator Bumpers (D-AK).

(6) The association sent over 250 personalized letters to other members of the drug testing industry asking for their support of the bill with the suggested changes. The association sent these letters to other members of the industry to ensure that all segments were informed and active in promoting this bill.

(7) The association's board members in key states made calls to their Senators asking for their support of the bill with the suggested changes.

The association will continue to actively lobby on behalf of the drug testing industry and we thank those members and non-members who have participated in our efforts. This legislation is critical to the industry and the association wants to ensure that the drug testing industry's needs and concerns are heard on Capitol Hill. For the latest information contact DATIA's webpage at www.datia.org!

Congress has been furiously working on several issues of importance to the drug testing industry. In addition to the Drug-Free Workplace Act (see previous story), both the House and the Senate have held hearings on different aspects of drug testing and substance abuse. These issues are proving to be popular with this Congress and have elicited strong emotions from both proponents and opponents of drug testing. The following are brief updates on what Congress has been doing:

• A House subcommittee held a hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) policies for Federal workplace drug-testing programs. Despite HHS' efforts to examine alternative specimen use in drug testing, Congress reprimanded them for not moving faster to allow the use of hair, saliva and sweat in Federal workplace drug testing. Although HHS only covers Federal employees, DoT and other agencies use their program as a template for their own drug-testing policies. There has been increased pressure on HHS and Congress by manufacturers to move faster to allow the use of these technologies for mandated testing.
  
• A House committee introduced a resolution (HRes 503) that would speed Congress' efforts to develop drug testing programs to test themselves. Despite voting last January to test themselves, there has been no progress on developing a drug-testing program. This resolution would expedite the process by allowing Congress to use all specimens, including hair, in their drug-testing program covering both lawmakers and staff. There is resistance to this resolution, but a vote is expected in September.
  
• A House subcommittee held a hearing on the benefits of using alternative specimens such as hair and sweat for drug testing in the workplace. Proponents of using these types of specimens said that they are less intrusive, offer a longer history of drug use, are far more difficult to tamper with and are more accurate than the traditional urine testing.
  
• A Senate committee held a hearing on the Substance Abuse Parity act that would make health coverage available for substance abuse treatment for businesses with 50 or more employees.
  
• A House subcommittee approved a bill (HR 3898) that would toughen penalties for methamphetamine use by bringing prison sentences into line with penalties for crack cocaine offenses. Under this bill, trafficking in 5 grams of the drug would carry a five-year minimum prison term, and distributing 50 grams would bring a mandatory 10-year sentence. Democrats were critical of the bill because they believe that the mandatory sentencing for relatively minor offenses would clog the courts.

Bills Introduced Affecting the Drug Testing Industry (limited to space available)

H.Res.481 - A resolution by the House recommending that professional athletes using illegal drugs who do not complete a drug treatment program should be suspended for one year without pay.

HR.3606 - The House introduced a bill that would allow states to be eligible for federal funding to implement drug testing programs for certain inmates in the prison system. Sanctions include denial or revocation of release for a positive drug test.

HR.3799 - The House introduced a bill that would create a demonstration program in the states to provide voluntary testing for all teenage applicants for a driver's license. If the teenager refuses, that information would be sent to the insurance provider and a positive test would mean that they would have to complete a state drug treatment program and have a subsequent negative test before reapplying for a license.

HR.2409 S.1147- The House and Senate have introduced bills that would require parity and nondiscriminatory application of treatment limitations and financial requirements to substance abuse treatment benefits under private group and individual health plans.

HR.3639 - The House introduced a bill that would establish an independent agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), known as the Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Administration, consolidating substance abuse and drug testing services from several different agencies, including SAMSHA.

S.147 - The Senate introduced a bill to provide federally reimbursed Medicaid coverage of alcoholism and drug dependency treatment for pregnant women who are below the poverty line.

HR.1637 - The House introduced a bill authorizing appropriations for substance abuse prevention and treatment block grants, substance abuse data collection and a national data base on substance abuse prevention.

New York

As part of NY City's controversial efforts by Mayor Giuliani to make NYC a better place to live and visit, he is requiring the city's nearly 50 thousand taxi drivers to submit to drug tests. In opposition to this and other provisions of the Mayor's war on citywide corruption, the taxi drivers protested by blocking bridges and not reporting to work, leaving the streets of NYC virtually taxi-less.

South Dakota

Three new laws aimed at alcoholic mothers just went on the books in South Dakota. Effective July 1, 1998, (1) courts in SD will be permitted to order pregnant women who drink into treatment centers, (2) friends and families may admit pregnant women into detoxification centers for up to two days and (3) drinking while pregnant is classified as a form of child abuse.

Q: What procedures should the collector follow if the donor presents a urine specimen that contains an inadequate amount of urine and is outside the required temperature range, or is suspected of adulteration or tampering by the collector?

R: The question defines a situation in which two "problems" are discovered by the collector on the sample submitted.

Part 40 defines the collector as "A person who instructs and assists individuals at a collection site and who receives and makes a screening examination (emphasis added) of the urine specimen provided by those individuals." The "screening examination" conducted by the collector subjects the specimen to criteria that includes temperature, volume, color, odor, presence of apparent foreign material (e.g., physical matter visible in specimen, excessive foaming of specimen when shaken), and conduct of the donor clearly and unequivocally indicating an attempt to substitute or adulterate the sample (e.g., substitute urine in plain view, blue dye in specimen presented). The screening examination, in total, will produce information for the collector to use in determining what, if any, additional steps would be required to complete the collection.

In the case in question, the donor presents a sample that does not contain a sufficient quantity of urine. However, the collector is also able to determine that the temperature of the specimen is outside the acceptable temperature range (and can not or will not be substantiated by the donor), or that the specimen has been tampered with or adulterated. The solution is for the collector to follow two separate, but concurrent courses of action in resolving the problems.

The order of precedence, to determine what must be done first, gives priority to the more grievous of the two occurrences--clearly the one that creates the need for the mandatory direct observation collection. With this in mind, the collector would not discard the original specimen, but package and "…forward (the specimen) to the laboratory for testing..." as instructed by section 40.25(f)(15). The collector would then proceed to collect "... a second specimen as soon as possible (emphasis added) under direct observation..." as required by section 40.25(f)(16). Since the initial sample contained an insufficient volume, "as soon as possible" would be governed by the provisions of section 40.25(f)(10)(iv), where the collector would..... "instruct the individual to drink not more than 40 ounces of fluids and, after a period of up to three hours...", try again to collect a complete sample.

In other words, the new collection attempt required by the insufficient volume provision would be under direct observation. Direct observation is required in accordance with the provisions of 40.25(e)(1), because there exists "...reason to believe that a particular individual may altar or substitute the specimen..."

Jeff Kovalik
President
DTx/Universal Drug Testing
Large, PA

Jeff Kovalik, President of DTx/Universal Drug Testing, offers his clients a variety of services including conventional collections, laboratory services, and on-site drug and alcohol testing products such as DTx.

Jeff is anxiously awaiting the passage of the Drug-Free Workplace Act, and the increase in business that it will bring his company. Small businesses, when compared to Fortune 500 companies, do an amazingly small amount of employee drug testing. The Drug-Free Workplace Act encourages states to offer small businesses financial incentives to implement drug testing programs.

As do many other individuals in the drug and alcohol testing industry, Jeff feels that the use of on-site testing should be approved for use by these small businesses. This form of testing is currently the most cost effective for such small operations, especially for those located in remote areas.

Not only will the amount of drug testing change in the future, but also the way in which the testing is performed. Jeff sees the majority of testing in the future to be on-site testing. The technology is increasing and more industry professionals are taking advantage of it. In addition, the kits are becoming easier to use due to changes in their packaging, and costs are already going down. Businesses involved in performing drug and alcohol testing will be enhanced by this technology through the opening of additional markets. Today, the majority of testing is focused on the DOT, however, the DOT only represents a small fraction of those to be tested. Conventional collection sites and laboratories will be able to increase their business by offering these additional services to their clients.

With the industry changing as such, Jeff is glad about the association's name change. He sees that the new name represents who the members are, and will enable the association to take a stand on all forms of drug and alcohol testing.