EMPLOYEE TESTS SHOW POT SMOKING ON RISE

Employees testing positive for marijuana use continued on an upward
trend in the second quarter of the year, according to statistics
released by Diagnostic Laboratory Services.

From April through June, 2.5 percent of the drug tests conducted on
workers tested positive for marijuana, the report said. In the first
quarter of the year, 2.3 percent tested positive, while a little more
than 1.5 percent of the tests came back positive in the second
quarter of 2007, the report said.

Drug use in other categories remained stable, the report said.

"There's a slight uptick in opiate use, but cocaine use is slightly
down," said Carl Linden, DLS scientific director of toxicology.
"While amphetamine use remains the same at a relatively low
percentage of 0.6 percent, it is still roughly three times higher
here than on the Mainland."

The company, which describes itself as Hawai'i's largest drug-testing
company, releases drug statistics each quarter. The company handles
drug testing for about 800 local businesses and the quarterly sample
size typically includes 7,000 and 10,000 drug tests.