SIZE UP DRUG TESTING'S VALUE

Re: We should try to limit drugs' harm, letter.

On May 19, Calvina L. Fay of the Drug Free America Foundation
responded to your May 1 editorial about drug testing in the workplace.
In your editorial, "Put it to the test", you advocated a cost-benefit
analysis of drug testing.

Fay asked rhetorically if it is okay for our airline pilots to smoke a
joint at night and then fly our planes the next morning? Of course
not. It is well established that workers doing safety-critical jobs
can be tested for drugs, including the drug alcohol.

Fay asserted there is no credible research showing marijuana is not a
significant factor in safety or productivity. In fact there is. It was
done by three different road safety researchers in Australia in 1985,
1992 and 1995. All three studies showed the degree of driver
responsibility (for his/her own fatal accident) to be the same
regardless whether marijuana was present in the deceased driver or
not. Alcohol, by contrast, correlated strongly with driver
responsibility.

I agree with Fay that insurance companies should do their own research
to determine if drug-free clients merit lower premiums. And if they
are serious, they should also do a cost-benefit analysis of random
Breathalyzer testing as their clients' employees punch in for their
shift.