Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry News
FMCSA agrees to take public comments on hair testing
Earlier in April, the U.S. Trucking Alliance requested an exemption which would permit positive results using hair to test for drugs collected from random testing and pre-employment screening of drivers to be entered into the Federal Motor Carrier Safety...
Saskatchewan festival offered first illicit drug testing to attendees
Ness Creek Music Festival that took place in July was the first Saskatchewan music festival to offer a drug checking service as the number of overdose-related deaths in the province grows. In his interview with Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Keith Bowering, organizer of the...
Free course for National Drug Overdose Day
National Drug Overdose Day is very important to us here at DATAC as we see every day how the opioid crisis has impacted the country. DATAC deals so closely with so many who work in the rehabilitation and harm reduction spaces and it has been so hard to see the...
U.S. Overdose deaths are on the rise in Black and Indigenous populations
A new analysis published by the Smithsonian Magazine and authored by Margaret Osborne earlier in July discussed the rising numbers of overdose deaths in the U.S., particularly in African-American and indigenous populations. New data released by the CDC demonstrates...
Study finds new indicators found for alcohol use disorder
According to new research, drinking alone in youth is a significant predictor of problematic alcohol use later in life. A recent longitudinal study following over 9,000 U.S. high school students for 17 years showed that solitary drinking in adolescence and young...
Opinion: Canadian decriminalization efforts are not enough to produce results
In a recent opinion article published by Talking Drugs, an online platform provided by the International Drug Policy Consortium, news and analysis on drug policy, the author, André Gomes discussed the limitations of Canada’s recent drug decriminalization efforts. In...
Overdose prevention site needed in Saint John
Avenue B, a harm reduction organization based in Saint John, has been preparing to apply to Health Canada for a licence in order to operate an overdose prevention site in an effort to reduce overdose-related deaths. If the application is approved, it would be the...
UK recreational drug users could have passports and driving licences confiscated
A new proposal announced by the UK government may lead to recreational drug users in England and Wales having their passports and driving licences seized. In addition, the proposal includes the initiative of having casual users of cocaine and cannabis pay fines and be...
Etizolam creates problems for first responders in B.C.’s overdose crisis
According to recent data released by the BC Coroners Service released on July 14, there were 195 overdose-related deaths in the province in May, as written about here. In addition, the report stated that etizolam, a benzodiazepine analogue that acts as a potent...