Trends
on September 24, 2026
Bill Current

By Bill Current, President & Founder

Three Major Reports Identify Current and Future Drug Testing Trends

This information is provided for educational purposes only. Reader retains full responsibility for the use of the information contained herein.

 

Did you know that:

  • In 2025, the percentage of Americans 12 and older who used marijuana in the past year increased from 19% (about 53.2 million people) in 2021 to 21.2% (about 61.6 million people)?
  • In the general U.S. workforce, marijuana positive drug test results reached 4.4% in urine testing and significantly higher levels in alternative collection methods, including 11.1% in oral fluid and 15.1% in hair testing?
  • 58% of drug testing providers say between 1% and 10% of their clients have stopped testing for marijuana, and 20% said more than 10% no longer test for marijuana?

What Three Major Reports Reveal About Drug Testing Trends

Thanks to the following three major annual reports, we are able to track these and many other issues:

  1. The 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released in July 2026,
  2. Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index™ (DTI) also released in July 2026, and
  3. The 28th Annual Drug Testing Industry Survey from the Current Consulting Group released in May 2026.

At a time when a growing number of Americans are using marijuana and more employees are testing positive for marijuana, too many employers are dropping marijuana from their drug test panel.

These are troubling trends for those concerned with workplace safety and productivity.

The trend to legalize marijuana corresponds precisely with the trend lines from these three major reports that indicate that substance abuse is here to stay, that drug testing is more important than ever, and that the decision to drop marijuana from a company’s drug-test panel is ill-advised at best and potentially dangerous and costly.

And if you were hoping to see these trend lines reverse course, the Trump Administration’s efforts to make marijuana more accessible for so-called medical use (if not at some point recreational use also) has all but guaranteed more marijuana use and its related consequences.

SAMHSA’s 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health[i]

According to the NSDUH released on July 27, 2026, substance abuse is on the rise. Key findings include:

  • Approximately 69.8 million people aged 12 or older used illicit drugs in the past year, an increase from 62 million in 2021. SAMHSA indicated that this increase was “largely tied to the increase in marijuana use in the past year.”
  • Approximately 61.6 million people admitted to using marijuana in 2025, an increase from 53.2 million in 2021.
  • Additionally, 43.8 million Americans admitted to using marijuana in the month prior to being surveyed, an increase from 37 million in 2021.

In other words, marijuana use is fueling America’s dramatic overall increase in substance abuse. And one specific key indicator within the NSDUH data portends more trouble on the substance abuse horizon. According to one report, the percentage of teens who perceive great risk in regular marijuana use dropped from 29% in 2023 to 25.8% in 2024.[ii]

This may be why the 2025 NSDUH also reported that approximately 2.4 million people used marijuana for the first time in the past year.

Bottom Line: Marijuana use is up, fear of harm from using marijuana is down, and first-time marijuana users are in the millions.

Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index[iii]

From the Quest Drug Testing Index (DTI), we find some good news. “Drug use positivity for the combined workforce held at 4.3% in 2025 in urine drug tests, a decrease of 2.3% compared to the rate of 4.4% in 2024. The rate was 4.6% from 2021 to 2023. The last year the rate was as low as 4.2% was 2017.”

However, the DTI data revealed something very concerning. According to hair test results, it appears that persistent long-term substance use by workers has increased to an alarming level. According to the DTI: “Nearly one in five workers in the general U.S. workforce (19.1%) tested positive for drug use based on an analysis of hair specimens collected in 2025, an increase of nearly 46% compared to 13.1% in 2021.”

Hair Testing Identifies Longer-Term Drug Use

Hair tests have a window of detection of about 90 days compared to urine at 3-4 days and oral fluid at about 24 hours. The longer window of detection is telling because substance abusing workers would have to abstain from drug use for at least three months in order to pass a drug test. The fact that the positivity rate for hair tests is nearly 20% indicates that many workers are not stopping drug use in order to keep their jobs.

Further: “Over the past five years, overall hair test positivity for marijuana increased 58.9% (9.5% in 2021 vs. 15.1% in 2025). Pre-employment hair test positivity for marijuana increased 49.5% over the past five years (10.1% in 2021 vs. 15.1% in 2025). Random hair test positivity for marijuana increased 14.8% in the same period (18.3% in 2021 vs. 21.0% in 2025).”

Oral Fluid Testing Reveals Higher Positivity Rates

Another alternative testing method, oral fluid, also produced far more positives compared to urine test results. The oral fluid positivity rates for random testing, for example, increased to 6.3% in 2025, an increase of 14.5% compared to 5.5% in 2021. The DTI notes: “Notably, both random testing and post-accident testing by oral fluid, at 10.2%, were higher than 4.4% for pre-employment testing.”

The DTI report explained why urine positives tend to be so much lower than alternative methods: “Hair and oral fluid testing use collection methods that are substantially more resistant to tampering or substitution than urine testing, helping provide a clearer, more reliable picture of actual substance use patterns. Previous Quest Diagnostics DTI reports describe heightened substituted and invalid specimen positivity in urine testing, indicating that some U.S. workers are going to great lengths to attempt to subvert the drug testing process.”

Bottom Line: Alternative testing methods such as oral fluid and hair may give employers a more accurate reading on the substance abuse levels among their workers.

Current Consulting Group’s 28th Annual Drug Testing Industry Survey

All of this brings us to the results of the Current Consulting Group’s (CCG) 28th Annual Drug Testing Industry Survey released in May 2026 at the annual conference of the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA).[iv] A combined total of 72% of providers in CCG’s survey indicated that drug testing sales were on solid ground in 2026 with just over 44.5% of the survey respondents (compared to 32% in 2025) saying sales have actually increased during the past 12 months and another 28% indicating that they are unchanged. By comparison, 21% indicated that sales were down over the past year.

When asked, “Have you had many clients completely discontinue drug testing in the past 3 years?” only 7.4% said “yes, many” and 33% said “yes, but not many” while 49% said no clients had stopped drug testing.

However, when asked, “Why do you believe employers stop conducting drug testing” 64%, the highest percentage of respondents, selected “Reasons related to the legalization of marijuana,” followed by:

  • 55% said “Makes it harder to hire new people,”
  • 38% said drug testing is “Too expensive,”
  • 27% said “Company priorities no longer support drug testing,”
  • 8% said they “Don’t like drug testing,” and
  • 7% said they “Don’t believe it works.”

How Marijuana Legalization Is Affecting Drug Testing

While providers indicate that the legalization of marijuana continues to have an effect on drug testing sales, the impact is more or less balanced between negative and positive. For instance, when asked, “how much is the legalization of marijuana affecting drug testing sales,” 36% said it is having a “negative effect on sales” and 9% said there’s been no negative effect so far, but they believe there will be eventually. On the other hand, 32% said they have not noticed a negative effect on sales. Further, 5.4% said marijuana legalization has actually had a positive effect on drug testing sales and 7% said they believe there will be a positive effect eventually.

The trend line seems to be working in favor of employers testing for marijuana. For instance, those who said legalized marijuana was having a minimal effect on sales dropped from 39% in 2024 to 35% in 2025 and then 32% this year. Further, the percentage who said marijuana legalization was having no effect on sales was 32% in 2024 and also 32% this year. Finally, the percentage who said they see no negative effect presently but predict it will eventually happen increased from 12% to 14% between 2024 and 2025 before dropping dramatically in 2026 to 7%.

Are Employers Still Testing for Marijuana?

When asked, “What percentage of your clients have dropped marijuana from their drug test panel in the last 12 months?” 24% said that none of their clients have dropped marijuana, down slightly from 25% in the 2025 survey. But 58% said between 1% and 10% of their clients have stopped testing for marijuana, and 20% said more than 10%.

Referring back to the 2025 survey, when providers were asked, “Why have clients dropped marijuana from their drug-test panel?” the responses were all across the board. The responses were as follows:

  • They believe it makes it harder to hire people: 49% (down from 62%)
  • To avoid the risk of a legal challenge from an applicant or employee: 37% (down from 44%)
  • It’s not legal to test for marijuana in their state(s): 27% (down from 34%)
  • They don’t want to know who uses marijuana: 13% (compared to 12%)
  • They don’t believe it is right to test for marijuana: 7% (compared to 8%)
  • They don’t believe testing for marijuana makes the workplace safer: 5% (down from 8%)
  • They probably use marijuana and don’t want to be hypocrites: 3.4% (down from 6.22%)
  • We discourage our clients from testing for marijuana: 0.4% (down from 1.7%)
  • Don’t know: 19% (up from nearly 10%)

The percentage of survey participants who believe the trend will continue of employers discontinuing testing for marijuana decreased from 70% in 2024 to 62% in 2025 and 58% in 2026.

Bottom Line: Employers continue to see value in conducting drug tests even though some have dropped marijuana from their drug test panel.

What These Drug Testing Trends Mean for Employers

What does all of this mean for employers? Here are three key takeaways:

First, illicit drug use, especially marijuana, was up again in 2025.

Second, alternative testing methods such as oral fluid and hair testing can help employers achieve their drug-free workplace objectives.

Third, most drug testing providers indicate that sales are either up or at least the same in 2026, with a healthy percentage believing that sales will increase by the end of the year.

In the final analysis, for employers, it comes down to workplace safety and protecting the bottom line. For those reasons, drug testing and, perhaps, some screening method capable of identifying on-the-job impairment, regardless of the cause of the impairment, are here to stay.

 

To learn more about how Current Consulting Group can help strengthen your drug-free workplace program, visit Current Consulting Group or contact info@currentconsultinggroup.com.

 

Copyright © 2010-2026 Current Consulting Group – No portion of this article may be reproduced, retransmitted, posted on a website, or used in any manner without the written consent of the Current Consulting Group. When permission is granted to reproduce this article in any way, full attribution to the author and copyright holder is required.

 

[i] Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. 2026. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt57150/2025-nsduh-annual-national-html/2025-nsduh-annual-national.htm

[ii] Perception of Risk Keeps Falling. AddictionHelp.com. https://www.addictionhelp.com/marijuana/statistics/

[iii] Quest Diagnostics. “One in Five American Workers Tested Had a Positive Hair Drug Test in 2025, Signaling Persistent Long-Term Substance Use Patterns.” July 10, 2026. https://newsroom.questdiagnostics.com/2026-07-10-One-in-Five-American-Workers-Tested-Had-a-Positive-Hair-Drug-Test-in-2025,-Signaling-Persistent-Long-Term-Substance-Use-Patterns

[iv] Current Consulting Group’s 28th Annual Drug Testing Industry Survey. May 2026.