By Bill Current, President & Founder
Being Current: 25 Years in the Making—Lessons Learned About Why Drug Testing Is So Valuable
This information is provided for educational purposes only. Reader retains full responsibility for the use of the information contained herein.
Author’s Note: I founded the Current Consulting Group (CCG) in 1998, nearly 25 years ago. In the months leading up to our 25th anniversary CCG will produce articles, webinars, and offer discounts on CCG services. Each of our monthly newsletters will feature a special article entitled “Being Current: 25 Years in the Making” on some of the most important lessons I’ve learned and people I’ve met since I started CCG two-and-a-half decades ago.
Lesson #11: Buyer Beware
We’re all familiar with the expression “buyer beware.” It comes from the Latin phrase “caveat emptor.” Regardless of the language, however, it means you buy at your own risk. The phrase is intended to remind the buyer to do some research, ask questions, and demand answers before committing to purchase something, because once you buy it, your money is gone.
Early in my career a very distinguished gentleman representing a new alcohol testing product asked for the opportunity to do a demonstration during a business lunch meeting. I don’t drink but my associate had a few glasses of wine, presumably in preparation for the demo. Unfortunately, it took 10 tries to get a positive result. In other words, our salesperson went through nine defective devices before one finally worked.
Needless to say, we were not impressed and did not recommend his product to our clients. But I learned a valuable lesson that day—not all drug and alcohol testing products, devices, and methods are created equally. Some work better, much better than others. As a consultant, my job involves helping my clients make the best decisions possible so they can achieve their drug and alcohol testing objectives.
Over the years I have seen many new drug testing products and companies come and go. Some are well funded, while others operate on a shoestring. Some boast having well-known industry experts consulting for them, while others operate in relative obscurity. But they all have one thing in common: they all claim their product is going to revolutionize how employers conduct drug testing.
For more than three decades, lab-based urine testing has dominated the drug testing world. It has passed the test of time, both scientifically and legally. It is permitted in every state and, until recently, was the only drug testing method allowed under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) regulations.
Little by little over the course of many years, oral fluid testing, once considered an “emerging technology,” has finally reached the level of legitimacy heretofore occupied solely by urine testing. It has finally been endorsed by the federal government with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issuing final regulations for lab-based oral fluid testing in October 2019 and DOT issuing its final oral fluid rule in May 2023. These are exciting developments in the world of drug testing.
Also, in 2020, SAMHSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for hair testing. And that’s it, but it’s a lot.
If legal defensibility is one of your highest priorities, and it should be, nowadays you have a choice between three legitimate drug testing methods, the big three—urine, oral fluid, and hair—that have been around for a long time and have been endorsed by the federal government. Other testing methods are on the horizon and may soon ascend to the level of the big three. One here and there will hopefully pay the price required for success, including overcoming all the legal challenges, gaining government acceptance, and enduring years of skepticism and meager sales.
In the meantime, “buyer beware.”
