DRUG TESTING

Drug Testing for Welfare

Abstract

In this paper, we try to study the drug testing in a holistic context. This paper analyzes many aspects of drug testing and gauges its effects on welfare.

Drug Testing for Welfare

Introduction

Every year in the United States, a significant number of individuals undergo both voluntary and non voluntary drug testing. Drug testing within the United States has had a brief history beginning in the 19th century with development of observational drug screening methods. Contemporary drug tests have advanced from early observational techniques to biochemical tests that use a number of bodily samples including urine, oral fluids, hair, blood, and sweat. Although the purpose behind drug testing in different industries may vary, the usual aim of such testing is to protect both the individual being testing along with the general public from the harms that may ensue while one is under the influence of alcohol or an illicit substance that may interfere with normal functioning.

Drug testing has been conducted in the United States since the 19th century. Using observational techniques, the earliest human drug screens involved examining the extent to which pupil dilation could be attributed to the use of narcotics, a class of drugs contain natural or synthetic opiates and used for their analgesic effects. A similarly unsophisticated observational technique to determine alcohol use was listening for slurred speech. These observational techniques are examples of initial drug screens. Drug screening is a method of evaluating substance use and often involves the qualitative analysis of a sample to determine whether certain drugs are present.

In contrast to drug screening, drug testing is a more precise method of evaluating substance use that uses a quantitative analysis of body tissue or fluids to determine the concentration of a particular substance in an individual. Despite the difference in methods, both drug screening and drug testing seek to determine whether an individual is or has been under the influence of either alcohol or an illicit substance and the extent to which this influence has the potential to interfere with normal human functioning (Drug Courts Program Office, 2000).

More recent advances in drug testing technologies include the use of hair and sweat for determining drug use. Hair analysis was first introduced in the late 1960s to investigate the exposure of humans to environmental hazards. The rationale behind this method was knowledge that hair can store certain types of matter for periods of time ...