By Bill Current, President & Founder
Being Current: 25 Years in the Making—Lessons Learned About Why Drug Testing Is So Valuable | Cheaters Never Prosper
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I founded the Current Consulting Group (CCG) in 1998, 24+ years ago. To celebrate our upcoming 25th anniversary, each of our monthly newsletters will feature a special article entitled “Being Current: 25 Years in the Making” which will highlight some of the most important lessons I’ve learned about drug testing and about being in business since I started the #1 consulting firm in the industry two-and-a-half decades ago.
Cheaters Never Prosper
Recently for my “Being Current” article I wrote about the importance of honesty leading off with the axiom: “Honesty is the best policy.” Since starting the Current Consulting Group in 1998, I have seen many people in this industry thrive by being honest in every possible way.
There are many good examples of honest people I could mention, but I’m only going to refer to one such person. Chuck Marting of Colorado Mobile Drug Testing runs a very successful drug testing business and Chuck also hosts a very interesting podcast called “The Language of Leadership,” which I highly recommend.[i]
Chuck is well liked in the drug testing industry because he is good at what he does, and he treats people with honesty and respect. If you don’t know Chuck, check out his company website.[ii]
What made me think of Chuck today was something his company posted on LinkedIn about drug test cheating. Sage James wrote:
“Only 8 collections this morning and 4 of those provided synthetic urine… this could definitely be an indication that passing recreational drug laws is a major issue for Colorado employers.”
This brings to mind another old saying that applies universally in business and in life: “Cheaters never prosper.” Yet, some drug users will do almost anything to subvert a drug test so they can keep their job and continue coming to work under the influence of drugs. In Current Consulting Group’s 2022 Drug Testing Industry Survey, nearly 8% of service providers indicated 10% or more of all drug test samples have been adulterated, tampered with, switched, or subverted in some way. And 10% said the percentage of subverted samples is between 5% and 10%.
The most cited form of cheating from our survey was “Substituting the donor’s sample for a purchased synthetic or another person’s clean sample.”
“It’s not uncommon between our two offices to have 5-10 per day with synthetic urine,” Marting told me. “I’ve done a lot of teaching and training on it. Collectors need to ask questions of donors to learn if they have synthetic urine on them without creating a confrontation. We’re hyper aware of the situation here and have been very successful in thwarting such efforts.”
Chuck added:
“Drug test cheating is a nationwide problem thanks to the legalization of marijuana, but it’s not just marijuana. Here in Colorado we just legalized psilocybin and MDMA for mental health treatment.”
Chuck deals with cheaters virtually every day but he says they need to be treated with respect. Sometimes, he said, it can lead to some humorous encounters.
“I recently had a guy get caught trying to pass a drug test with synthetic urine. I very calmly explained that there was something wrong with his urine sample, that it appeared to be synthetic. The guy then gave me a high five and said ‘Congratulations.’ When I asked him why he said it was the first time he has gotten caught in 10 years of drug test cheating.”
Drug test cheating is a form of dishonesty. Not holding drug test cheaters accountable when they get caught is another form of dishonesty. That’s not to say that every cheater should be fired, but their employer must require some form of repentance like participation in a treatment program or, at the very least, a clean drug test. Otherwise, drug test cheaters prosper, and cheaters are never supposed to prosper. Thanks to experts like Chuck Marting, fewer cheaters do prosper.
