However, many people are unaware of another serious danger that is out on the roads as well: drug-impaired driving.

Unlike drunk driving, limited research is available about drug-impaired driving. But it is something that companies, law enforcement, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are working on improving.

The NHTSA has been gathering and publishing research about the impact of drug-impaired driving over the past couple of years. The most recent findings have shown:

-Approximately 12.8 million Americans ages 16 and older self-reported that they drove under the influence of drugs in 2017
-Around 20% of surveyed drivers test positive for potentially impairing drugs
-Weekend evenings from 10 PM until midnight and 1 to 3 AM have shown to have a higher percentage of drug-impaired drivers on the road
-The number of drivers who tested positive for marijuana increased 48% from 2007 to 2014

Changes in marijuana’s legalization coupled with a gap in education have led some individuals to underestimate or not fully understand the serious danger that driving while high can pose.

It is so important that we continue to emphasize the importance of not driving high. Data has shown that driving after ingesting or smoking marijuana does interfere with psychomotor function and a driver’s ability to multitask.

A report from the Governors Highway Safety Association concluded that “the best overall estimate of marijuana’s effect on crash risk in general is an increase of 25-35%”. And the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report found that since marijuana was legalized in Colorado, marijuana-related traffic deaths have increased by 151% along with general state-wide traffic deaths increasing by 35%.

When the Colorado Department of Transportation then conducted their own survey of 11,000 individuals, they found that 69% admitted to driving high at least once during the past year.

Law enforcement officers are continuing to be educated to better recognize and understand the signs of drugged driving. In the meantime, it is imperative that we help keep our roads safe.

If you are an employer and want to ensure that your employed drivers are maintaining a drug-free driving environment, please contact our drug testing department at mail@blueline-services.com.

The post Drug Impaired Drivers On Our Roads appeared first on Blueline.

At least 17 states currently have pending legislation making it illegal to sell or use synthetic urine. And earlier this year, Mississippi Representative Willie Bailey proposed the “Urine Trouble Act” in order to ban the sale and use of synthetic urine products in the state of Mississippi. While the proposed bill didn’t pass in the state senate, lawmakers are hopeful for another effort to do so next year. Indiana and New Hampshire both banned synthetic urine last year and Missouri introduced a bill to do so this year as well.

Failed drug tests in the workplace currently stand at the highest they’ve been in a decade  (which we covered in depth here) and many believe it would seem to follow that more people are trying to cheat drug exams as well. There are many common tricks for trying to pass a test including: using someone else’s urine, attempting to flush out your system with large amounts of water or using herbal remedies. But synthetic urine seems to have become the new “go-to” trick and is harder to prevent and detect than most other ways of cheating.

A box of synthetic urine can be purchased at truck stops or novelty shops and often come with tools to help the user make the product seem more like real urine.

One brand of fake urine, called ‘fetish urine‘, includes hand warmers and a temperature sensor along with the liquid and instructions on how to heat the substance. Then, all the purchaser needs to do is heat up the liquid with the hand warmers—giving them the ability to warm the product without the use of a microwave.

Other products even come with belts “for easy hiding around the waist“. Synthetic urines products are usually comprised of “all major components of natural urine… including urea, creatine, uric acid, phosphates, ammonia, sulfates, etc.”.

During his hearing in Jackson, Bailey urged others to vote for the bill stating that the substance has been a “hot seller” in truck stops where they haven’t been able to keep it in stock due to high demand. Alluding to the concern that workers in safety sensitive positions (such as truck drivers) could be putting themselves and the public at risk.

Judy Tilton, whose 21-year-old son died from a fentanyl overdose, found a bottle of synthetic urine while cleaning his room. “It just made me think… ‘Who else is using this?’,” Tilton said. “It could be a bus driver, it could be an aircraft pilot, a trucker driving down the road. They’re endangering everybody.”

Many laboratories will perform validity testing to ensure that a urine drug test sample is human, but this isn’t the case for all laboratories. Quest Diagnostics (one of our preferred partners) is a lab that will always ensure a urine sample is not synthetic.

States with legislation pending to ban the use and sale of synthetic urine include:
-Alabama
-Arkansas
-Arizona
-Florida
-Georgia
-Indiana
-Kansas
-Michigan
-Mississippi
-Missouri
-New Hampsire
-North Carolina
-Oklahoma
-Tennesse
-Utah
-West Virginia
-Wisconsin

The post Urine Trouble: States Move To Ban Synthetic Urine appeared first on Blueline.