DRUG-TEST BILL PREFERS SALIVA OVER URINE JAR

A Carpenters Union Spokesman Likes The Idea For On-Site Safety

Saliva could replace urine as a means of testing for drugs in the
construction industry if a measure moving through the Legislature is approved.

Building and union representatives at a Senate Judiciary and Labor
Committee hearing yesterday strongly supported the Senate Bill 1636
SD1 "to ensure workplace safety."

State Health Department, Diagnostic Laboratory Services and Clinical
Laboratories of Hawaii representatives cited many concerns about
saliva drug testing.

Judiciary and Labor Chairman Clayton Hee,
(D, Kahuku-Laie-Kaaawa-Kaneohe), said he expects to advance the
measure with some amendments suggested by the Health Department.

He said he has "very strong feelings when it comes to drug abuse and
drug abuse in the workplace." But he said "the least-invasive and
least-humiliating" testing method should be available.

He said he has arranged to bring a machine here on a trial basis
that measures people's eyes to detect drug use.

Other states are using the machine in the courts and it could be
used in Hawaii's Judiciary, especially for Circuit Judge Steve Alm's
Project HOPE, Hee said.

Alm started Hawaii's Opportunity for Probation with Enforcement last
year to try to prevent convicted criminals on probation from using
drugs and going back to prison.

Ronald Taketa, testifying for 7,500 members of the Hawaii Carpenters
Union, Local 745, and 220 contractors statewide, said on-site saliva
drug testing "would be a tremendous leap forward in fighting
substance abuse and related injury in Hawaii's construction industry."

He said Hawaii Carpenters was the first trade union in Hawaii to
have a drug testing policy for members. "There is nothing we value
more than safety on a union project," he said, adding it affects the
well-being of members and the cost and profitability of building projects.

Gerard Sakamoto, S & M Sakamoto Inc. president, said urinalysis
testing "is expensive for employers, stressful for workers and can
easily be manipulated by those who want to 'beat the test.'

"We need a better and more affordable alternative to ensure
workplace safety," he said. On-site or "instant" oral fluid drug
screens are widely used on the West Coast and "have become a
cost-effective detection and deterrence tool to keep job sites safe," he said.

Laurence Lau, state Health Department deputy director, said saliva
tests have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Also, they might not work for marijuana use, presenting a "false
sense of security," he said.

Among suggested changes, the agency asked that only FDA- or Health
Department-approved test kits be used for drug screening and that a
urine or blood specimen be collected within two hours after a
positive saliva test and sent to a state-licensed laboratory for confirmation.

Carl Linden of Diagnostic Laboratory Services and Clifford Wong of
Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii cited many scientific and legal
issues with saliva-testing devices.

Linden urged that the bill be held until there are federal standards
or scientific agreement on the efficacy of saliva tests.