Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry News
BCSSA initiates study into substance use in construction industry
In July of this year, the board of directors of the BC Construction Safety Alliance (BCCSA) approved a project to examine the impact of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) on the organization’s members across British Columbia. According to the executive director Mike...
Drug Checking Technology Challenge winner announced
The ongoing growing opioid crisis has been declared a public health emergency in Canada. Due to increasing toxicity of the illegal drug supply, there have been higher rates of overdoses since the onset of COVID-19. In addition, it has been demonstrated that most drug...
Extreme opioids hit Toronto streets causing overdose deaths
In recent months, powerful synthetic opioids have been discovered in Toronto’s street drug supply, resulting in a spike in overdose deaths. According to the results of the investigation carried out by the Toronto Star and Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB), the...
Court ruling limits drug testing at Iowa warehouses
On June 25, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that employers cannot subject all warehouse employees to random drug testing by designating them as having safety-sensitive jobs. The court ruled that instead of simply considering the employees’ workplace, companies must also...
Korean school teachers angered by mandatory drug testing
Following a revision to the Primary and Secondary Education Act which was passed at the Korean National Assembly in December 2020, 20,000 teachers at Korean public schools are expected to undergo the tetrabromophenolphthalein ethyl ester (TBPE) drug test. The TBPE...
Conditional approval received for Peterborough safe injection site
Health Canada has granted conditional approval for a plan for a supervised drug Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) site in downtown Peterborough. Accordingly, the CTS site has received federal exemption to allow the use of illegal drugs on its premises, which is...
Understanding decriminalization and the steps to ending the opioid crisis
Opinion: Decriminalization is a critical step in curbing the opioid crisis A recent opinion article published in The Conversation examines the benefits of drug decriminalization, as well as its potential impact in fighting the ongoing opioid crisis. The article,...
Union calls out Marine Atlantic for unfair random testing
In recent months, Unifor members working on Marine Atlantic ferries have spoken out against being unfairly targeted for random alcohol testing. Unifor, a general trade union in Canada and the largest private sector union in Canada has approximately 310,000 workers and...
Amazon drops cannabis testing for some employees
Amazon.com Inc. has announced that some of its new recruits will no longer be disqualified from gaining employment for testing positive for cannabis in HR drug tests. In addition, the company has announced measures in support of the full legalization of cannabis at...