Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry News
Study: Private sector choosing zero-tolerance for cannabis
According to the results of a recent Conference Board of Canada survey, almost half of private-sector employers have implemented a zero-tolerance cannabis policy in the workplace. Monica Haberl, study senior researcher, told the Calgary Herald that while 76% of...
DATAC Report: National Opioid Management Study
North America is in a state of crisis. Opioid addiction is rampant throughout the entire country, with recent data from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) finding that more than 10,000 Canadians have died from opioid overdoses over the period of 2016-2018. In...
Saskatchewan to receive $5.4M for police training
The Government of Canada has recently announced it will fund $5.4 million over five years to support frontline law enforcement officers to combat drug-impaired driving in Saskatchewan. According to a news release by the federal government, funding is aimed to...
Territories struggle with substance abuse
In recent years the number of opioid-related overdoses in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut has continued to rise, despite their small populations. A recent article published by Vice Canada has examined the growing drug problem in Canada’s territories. “A...
Johnson & Johnson found guilty in fuelling opioid crisis
An Oklahoma judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million to the state of Oklahoma after determining that the company and its subsidiaries contributed to fuelling its opioid drug crisis. The ruling was made by Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman...
Canada’s wastewater reveals drug use
According to the results of a new pilot study Canadians’ drug habits significantly vary from coast to coast. The study examined wastewater from five Canadian cities for the presence of cannabis and other illegal substances such as methamphetamine and cocaine. The...
Harm reduction halves death toll
A new study recently published in the scientific journal, Addiction, demonstrates that without harm reduction efforts the death toll from drug-related causes would have been more than double. The study, which was led by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC),...
New machine able to identify trace amounts of illicit drugs
A new drug testing machine used to identify potentially deadly drugs was evaluated in a brief trial at an overdose prevention site in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside earlier in August. The machine uses a technique called paper spray mass spectrometry and can evaluate...
Increase in training leads to more drug impairment investigations
In Edmonton, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of drug tests conducted at the police station since the legalization of cannabis. In fact, Edmonton police are currently conducting more than 10 times the number of drug-impaired driving investigations...