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Feb/March 98 DATIA News |
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Sale of Drug-Free Urine A law outlawing the sale of drug-free urine for the purpose of avoiding a positive drug test has been signed into law in Pennsylvania and took effect on January 25, 1998. The new law has major implications for collections sites nationwide if similar laws continue to be passed in other states because collections sites could become responsible for identifying whether the specimen is legitimate or not. In addition, the collector will be responsible for reporting falsified drug-tests to the proper authorities. The law is more expansive than just outlawing the sale of drug-free urine for the purpose of using it to pass a drug test, the law makes it a third-degree misdemeanor if someone "offers for sale, sells, causes to be sold or gives drug-free urine for the purpose of or with the intent or knowledge that the urine will be used for evading or causing deceitful results in a test for the presence of drugs." A third-degree misdemeanor could mean imprisonment for up to 1 year. Twenty-five percent of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives cosponsored the bill. Only two other states, Texas and Nebraska, have criminalized falsification of drug-test results. Random Alcohol Testing Rate Decreased for FAA, FHWA and FTA; RSPA Drug Testing Rate Static The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) random alcohol testing rate decreased for the 1998 calendar year. All three agencies, FAA, FHWA, and FTA will have a minimum random alcohol testing rate of 10 percent for 1998 because their violation rate was less than 0.5 percent for two consecutive years. FAA's minimum random drug testing rate will remain at 25 percent for 1998 and FTA's and FHWA's minimum random drug testing rate will remain at 50 percent. The Research and Special Program Administration's (RSPA) minimum random drug testing rate will remain at 25 percent for 1998 because the violation rate remained below 1.0 percent in 1996. There is no number for the alcohol testing rate for RPSPA because the agency does not conduct random alcohol testing. Some in the collection industry have said that the decrease in the alcohol random testing rate could mean a greater chance of missing the employee who abuses drugs. Continued abuse by these employees could put others at risk of injury.
DTAB Needs More Information on Alternative Specimen Use The Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB), the executive board responsible for advising the Federal government on drug testing issues, has said that they need more information on the use of on-site testing products and alternative specimens in mandated drug testing programs before they recommend their use. DATIA provided the Board with public comments in May 1997 on the importance of collector training and quality as they consider the use of alternative specimens in federally mandated drug and alcohol testing. The Board has said that they have received a lot of information on the testing of hair, saliva and sweat for illicit drugs and the use of on-site urine testing, however, they are still lacking information in certain areas and until that information is gathered they can't make a recommendation for or against. They are concerned that there is not enough information to make a decision about whether certain testing methods are reliable. The collection site is not one of the areas that they need more information. At the Boards' last meeting there was particular attention to on-site testing. The Board said that they are still missing information on specific areas such as how to ensure the anonymity of the donor, how the on-site technicians will be certified or whether on-site kits are specific for a given analyte class. DATIA expects to have an official industry position on on-site testing at the Annual Meeting in March.
Feds May Delay Raise of Opiate Cutoff Levels The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) may delay the May 1, 1998 implementation date to raise the opiate cutoff levels in order to allow laboratories and the kit manufacturers to make appropriate changes to meet the changes. As reported in the last issue of Collection Site Industry News, DHHS recently revised the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs, raising the cutoff level for opiate metabolites effective May 1, 1998, which is expected to decrease the number of false positives. The labs are now realizing that it may take longer than was first projected to make the necessary changes for the higher cutoff rates. Specifically, DHHS raised the initial testing cutoff level for opiate metabolites and the confirmatory testing cutoff levels for morphine and codeine from 300 ng/mL to 2,000 ng/mL and established a new requirement to test for 6-acetylmorphine (6-AM) which is a metabolite that comes only from heroine, using a 10 ng/mL confirmatory level for specimens that have tested positive on the initial test only after a laboratory confirms that morphine concentrations exceeds 2,000 ng/mL rather than testing for 6-AM on each specimen that was positive on the initial test as had been proposed. Therefore, a positive without morphine present or with morphine less than 2,000 ng/mL will not automatically require a test for 6-AM. If the effective date is changed for the new opiate level, DATIA will inform members in the next newsletter or immediately for those members with updates to the Red Book.
Collector Handbook: The Book No Collector Should Be Without Are you preparing to train your collectors? Are you a collector that would like a manual to refer to in difficult situations? If so, then you need the Collector Handbook for Urine Specimen Collections. Used as part of the DATIA "Train the Trainer" course, the collector handbook offers a wealth of information for even the most experienced collector. The book, originally made available only to course participants, can now be purchased by any site interested in increasing their standards of collections. All aspects of the collection process are covered in this comprehensive book, from the supplies needed to perform a collection to dealing with problem collections. In addition, each chapter references the federal regulations that pertain to the information presented in the chapter. This enables collection site personnel to efficiently locate regulations and policies pertaining to the type of collection that they are performing. The collector handbook can be purchased for $25 a copy. To place an order over the phone or to receive an order form, please contact Laura Norfolk at 800-355-1257.
New Locations Announced for 1998 "Train the Trainer" Course DATIA's "Train the Trainer" course, which sold out in 1997, will be held in four locations during 1998. The first course of 1998 will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting March 26 and 29, 1998, in San Diego, CA. This course is anticipated to fill up quickly, so it is suggested to register early. For those traveling to San Diego to attend the annual conference, the training course is a must! As was the case in 1997, the course will be offered in locations across the United States in an attempt to cover all regions where our membership is concentrated. The dates and locations for the remaining three courses are as follows:
The "Train the Trainer" course is a six-hour, comprehensive course that covers the regulations surrounding urine specimen collections, collector professionalism, as well as the importance and means of maintaining privacy for the donor and integrity of the specimen. After attending the course, the attendee is certified to train the remaining collectors at their site. It is at this point that the site can apply for DATIA Accreditation. Keep a look out for registration materials in the mail! If you have any questions, please contact Laura Norfolk at 703-548-0901 or datia@wpa.org.
The following questions refer to information that every collector should know. If you do not feel that each collector at your site can answer these questions correctly, then they should receive supplemental training. These questions represent information that DATIA feels is imperative for collectors to know in order to perform their jobs correctly, and which DATIA teaches as part of the "Train the Trainer" course. 1. Which of the following is not a fatal flaw and can be
corrected using a Memorandum for Record? 2. An employer notifies you that the donor is coming for
a follow up test and that a direct observation collection is
needed You are a female nurse and the donor is a male. You
should: 3. Licensed medical personnel can perform a
______collection regardless of gender. 4. The donor must always have a positive photo ID in order to take a drug test. True or False
Answer Key
A state appeals court ruled that a Louisiana municipal department can terminate an employee who failed a post accident drug test even though the collector failed to note the amount of specimen given. A city employee was involved in a minor accident and voluntarily succumbed to a post-accident drug test and after the test came back positive, the employee was fired. The employee then filed a court claim that the test was invalid because the city failed to follow it's drug testing procedures because they did not follow the chain of custody. Specifically, the employee said that the collector failed to note how much urine was submitted during the testing. The Court rejected the employees' claim because "there is evidence that the tests were conducted in accordance with Federal guidelines by a competent laboratory and reviewed by a local medical review officer. There was also testimony that there were two containers of urine taken and that the amount was sufficient for two separate screenings and conformation procedures." Collection training and quality continue to increase, and despite the small mistakes that are made, the courts continue to support the collection policies and procedures that have been established by the collection sites.
The Miami-Dade County school district was forced by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to water-down their high school drug-testing program to allow unpenalized refusal by students of random testing. The ACLU threatened a lawsuit against the Florida school district if they did not allow a student the right to refuse the test. Despite this modification, the plan is one of the most extensive drug testing programs in the nation. The drug tests would begin in March, 1998 in grades 9 - 12, but only to students whose parents have signed consent forms. School drug testing gained constitutional footing in 1995 from a 1995 Supreme Court decision that public school athletes can be tested. The Labor Department (DoL) just recently released their Substance Abuse Information Database (SAID) Internet site which includes a wide-range of Federal and state information regarding substance abuse. A spokesman for the DoL said that the information found on the site stems from government agencies, private-sector companies, trade associations, state and local organizations and the non-profit community. The information on-line pertains to drug testing, unemployment and workers' compensation issues. The address for the site is http://gatekeeper.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/programs/drugs/main.htm. The Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) are considering writing specific guidance on all issues surrounding specimen tampering. Recognizing the prevalence of homemade and commercial adulterants, the Federal government is discussing whether they should write guidance on how to identify the adulterants. Members of the drug testing industry have continually commented on the increasing adulterant problems not only with Federally mandated urine tests, but with hair, saliva and sweat testing as well. Currently, 49 CFR Part 40 permits labs to conduct additional tests to determine the validity of a specimen, however, some of the language tends to be vague. DHHS has said that if guidance were to be written it must address issues such as what constitutes an "adulterated" specimen or what does the "validity" of the specimen really mean. There is a DoT issued memo from 1993 that addresses three different adulteration situations and how to handle them, but clearly there is little explanation on how to handle these situations. DATIA will keep you informed as the DoT and DHHS work on this issue. |
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