FEWER FAILING DRUG TESTS: DOPE STILL MOST COMMON

U.S. workers might be cleaning up their act when it comes to drug use
if the semiannual Drug Testing Index from Quest Diagnostics Inc. is
any indication.

Quest, a New Jersey-based company that has tracked drug test data
since 1988, reported Monday that 4.1 percent of 7.3 million workplace
drug tests were positive for drugs in 2005. The previous year, about
4.5 percent tested positive.

As pre-screening becomes more prevalent, the percentage of applicants
testing positive has declined from 13.6 percent when Quest first
started the Drug Testing Index.

"During 2005, we detected a downward trend in amphetamines and
methamphetamines positive test results in the general U.S. work force,
and in 2006 the trend took hold among all U.S. workers," said Barry
Sample, Quest's director of science and technology.

Those testing positive for marijuana represented 52.5 percent of the
positive results, down from 60.6 percent in 2001. At 15.7 percent,
cocaine was No. 2 on the list of drugs found in workers.

In San Antonio, results are mixed, with one testing company observing
a possible decrease in overall drug use and another noticing an upward
trend, especially in methamphetamine use.

Texas MedClinic reported 1,387 positive tests among the
pre-employment, random and post-accident drug tests it conducted for
employers last year. That's 68 more positives than in 2004, but
Marketing Director Karen Walker said the company did more tests last
year. She did not immediately have access to the number.

Analytical Toxicology Corp., a San Antonio-based company that tests
hair, urine and saliva samples for drugs, reports an 8 percent
positive rate in its testing throughout South Texas. Marijuana and
cocaine use are the most common findings, but Analytical has noticed
an increase in the use of methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

What's more, there has been in a rise in the number of adulterated
samples, according to a spokeswoman for Analytical Toxicology.

The semiannual report from Quest suggests that state policymakers and
stores may be helping to reduce drug use by limiting access to
pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine
illegally, Sample said.

Preliminary reviews of data from the first five months of this year
show that use of amphetamines has dropped to its lowest level among
both general employees and workers for whom testing is federally
mandated since becoming popular in 2002-03, Sample said.