By Bill Current, President & Founder
What Can We Learn About Marijuana & Drug Testing from Current Consulting Group’s Annual Employer Survey?
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According to Current Consulting Group’s 2025 Employer Drug Testing Survey, a shrinking percentage of employers are including marijuana in their drug-test panel. But why? Could it be because they misunderstand just how dangerous marijuana is?
Marijuana is the most dangerous drug according to one of the nation’s foremost medical experts, Dr. Marc Siegel. “Weed is the most dangerous drug in America,” Siegel wrote in an article published by Spectator.[i] “The main reason for this is the fact that most people don’t think it is. In fact, they typically think just the opposite. They believe not only that pot is safe, but also that it has true medicinal qualities. Little do they know that those benefits are barely worth the paper you wrap your joint in.”
Unfortunately, too many employers fall into the category of either believing that marijuana is safer than it really is or they just don’t want to know who the marijuana users are in their company. As such, we are seeing a drop in the percentage of employers who say they test for marijuana. In Current Consulting Group’s (CCG) employer survey, when asked, “What is your company’s position on testing for marijuana?” 73% said they plan to continue testing for marijuana, down from 77% in each of the past two years’ employer surveys.
The percentage of employers who admit that they have dropped marijuana from their panel increased from 9% in 2023 to 12% in 2025.
Additionally, and perhaps most telling, 11.6% in the 2025 survey said they were not sure what to do about testing for marijuana, up from 9% in 2023.
Why Do Employers Conduct Drug Testing?
To better understand the importance of testing for marijuana, it is important to understand why employers conduct drug testing in the first place. When employers were asked, “Why establish and maintain a drug testing program?” 78% said to promote workplace safety. And that’s good because, according to Quest Diagnostics, a leading provider of drug testing, “The percentage of employees in the general U.S. workforce testing positive for marijuana following an on-the-job accident increased to its highest level in 25 years in 2022.”[ii]
In CCG’s survey, when employers were asked, “What benefits does your company realize from drug testing?” 84%, the number one response, said it improves safety in the workplace.
So let’s quickly review what we know:
- The number one reason employers conduct drug testing is to improve workplace safety.
- The number one benefit employers say they get from drug testing is improved safety.
- Post-accident positivity for marijuana is at its highest level in 25 years.
And yet, according to CCG’s survey, 12% of employers have already stopped testing for marijuana, 3% said they are considering dropping marijuana, and 12% admit they’re not sure what to do.
Are Employers Concerned About Marijuana?
The survey’s results are all the more perplexing when you consider the fact that when employers were asked how concerned they were about workplace safety due to the legalization of marijuana, 59% said “very concerned” and 34% said “a little concerned,” for a total of 93%.
You may also find it of interest that:
- 51% said marijuana legalization causes them to be very concerned about productivity,
- 49% said it causes them to be very concerned about finding quality employees,
- 42% said they were very concerned about absenteeism,
- 42% said the same about turnover, and
- 38% said they were very concerned about marijuana’s effect on employee morale.
Additionally, a whopping 48% said they were very concerned and 29% said they were a little concerned about legal marijuana’s effect on their company’s reputation. And yet, the percentage of employers who say they plan to continue testing for marijuana dropped from 77% to 73% between 2023 and 2025.
Why Stop Testing for Marijuana?
So given the level of concern about marijuana’s effect on everything from safety and productivity to employee morale and a company’s reputation, why would an employer discontinue testing for marijuana? Well, we asked that question too, and here’s what employers in our survey said:
- “It makes it more difficult to hire new people” — 27%
- “We are concerned about lawsuits/legal liability if we test for marijuana” — 22% (only 3% said they have ever faced a legal challenge)
- “Testing for marijuana is not permitted in their state(s) or cities” — 12% (testing for marijuana is actually permitted in all 50 states, though heavy restrictions apply in a handful of states)
- “What employees do on their own time is not our company’s business” — 25%
Another 5% said they do not believe in testing for marijuana.
Some employers actually believe that conditions in their workplaces improved or were at least unchanged after they discontinued testing for cannabis:
- 55% (down from 82% in 2024) said they have seen no change in overall work performance since dropping marijuana (of course, maybe work performance wasn’t so hot to begin with),
- 27% (up from 14%) said it has been easier to find new people to hire, and
- 6% (up from 3%) said employee morale has improved (however, 8% said morale has declined).
This may explain, at least partially, why marijuana is no longer the number one drug employers test for nowadays. When asked as part of the survey, “What drugs do you include in your drug-test panel?” 90% said marijuana, which was less than those who said amphetamines (96%), cocaine (95%), and opioids (94%). In fact, phencyclidine, or PCP—a drug many employers and drug testing providers have scoffed at for being part of the federal drug-test panel—was right behind marijuana at 83%.
Marijuana Is Still a Very Dangerous Drug
Despite the ongoing campaign to legalize marijuana, the current Administration’s signals that it may reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance to a Schedule III drug, and the fact that as of 2024, more than half of Americans (54%) live in a state where recreational marijuana use is legal,[iii] it doesn’t change the fact that marijuana is a very dangerous drug, more dangerous than some people think.[iv] [v]
And for employers, whose top priority should be maintaining safe and productive workplaces so their employees can thrive and their companies can remain profitable, choosing not to test applicants and employees for marijuana is intentionally choosing to hire and employ more marijuana users—who tend to be less safe and less productive than their non-using co-workers. And many marijuana users admit that they get high on their way to work or while on the job, which means they are very likely impaired while working, which is perhaps the most dangerous thing about marijuana.[vi] [vii]
What Does NORML Say?
Even the leading voice in favor of marijuana legalization, NORML, agrees that marijuana can be harmful. “Nonetheless, cannabis should not necessarily be viewed as a ‘harmless’ substance. Consuming cannabis will alter mood, influence emotions, and temporarily alter perception, so consumers are best advised to pay particular attention to their set (emotional state) and setting (environment) prior to using it. It should not be consumed immediately prior to driving or prior to engaging in tasks that require certain learning skills, such as the retention of new information.”[viii]
Enough said!
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[i] Why weed is the most dangerous drug in America. Spectator/Australia. Oct. 2025. https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/10/why-weed-is-the-most-dangerous-drug-in-america/
[ii] Post-Accident Workforce Drug Positivity for Marijuana Reached 25-Year High in 2022, Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index Analysis Finds. Quest Diagnostics. May 2023. https://newsroom.questdiagnostics.com/2023-05-18-Post-Accident-Workforce-Drug-Positivity-for-Marijuana-Reached-25-Year-High-in-2022,-Quest-Diagnostics-Drug-Testing-Index-Analysis-Finds
[iii] 9 facts about Americans and marijuana. Pew Research Center. July 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/08/facts-about-marijuana/
[iv] Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than You Think. Missouri Medicine. Mar-Apr 2019. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6461328/
[v] Declining Perceptions of Harm from Substance Use. Carnevale Associates, LLC. Dec. 2024.
https://www.carnevaleassociates.com/file_download/inline/3974717f-137b-4a7c-b04e-525df7c0f8e9
[vi] High on the job? Third of corporate workers admit using weed on the clock, survey finds. Miami Herald. Apr. 2022. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article260599557.html
[vii] Dropping THC Testing is Risky Business. CCDAP Newsletter. 2nd Quarter 2024. https://ccdapp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CCDAPP-Newsletter-Q2-2024.pdf
[viii] Marijuana: A Primer. By Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director. https://norml.org/marijuana/library/marijuana-a-primer/
