WORKPLACE DRUG TESTING IS BENEFICIAL

To the editor:

Re: Junk science drove America to drug
testing, by Robyn Blumner, Jan. 30.

Blumner obviously knows nothing about drug testing in the corporate
sector, let alone anything about the tragedies that have affected
millions of families due to drug abuse. I founded one of the first
companies in the country that provided drug-testing services to
employers and have worked with hundreds of employers over the past 15
years in establishing drug-free workplaces. I am certified by the
courts as an expert in workplace drug testing and have lectured on the
topic nationally and internationally.

When testing began to develop in workplaces in the early '80s, I saw
38 percent of the work force in a small Texas town unable to pass a
drug test. This was a petrochemical town where the average worker
could, by a simple human error, literally blow up the entire town.
After several years of aggressive drug and alcohol testing, the rate
of employees who could not pass a drug test dropped to less than 10
percent.

Along with that, employers experienced a dramatic reduction in
accidents, workers' compensation claims, health care claims and
absenteeism. At least one corporation received a 50 percent reduction
in its workers' compensation premium due to the reduction of workplace
accidents.

During that time I also conducted surveys with employees who were
subjected to drug testing in their workplaces and learned that most
employees supported employers' rights to conduct testing in the
workplace and considered a drug-free workplace as one of the best
benefits provided by their employer. Further, my surveys with
employees revealed that many casual drug users had ceased to use drugs
for fear of being caught on a drug test. By ceasing to use, these
employees will never become addicted!

One other benefit of drug testing in the workplace is that many
employees have been intervened upon through a positive test and pushed
into drug treatment.

As a result, they are now drug-free, productive employees and family
members.

It is also important to remember that drug-free workplace programs
offer drug treatment and counseling not only to the employee but the
employees' families.

Before such programs were implemented, the average parent had no idea
where to turn for help when he thought he had a child using drugs.
Today employees can utilize their employee assistance program, which
is a part of their drug-free workplace program, to find answers to
dealing with their child's drug or alcohol problem.

Robyn Blumner's reliance on the American Civil Liberties Union as her
resource about workplace drug testing shows her lack of understanding
of the problem.

The ACLU has been opposed to drug testing from its inception. Of
course, its "investigations" or "reports" would not show drug testing
in a positive manner.

Blumner needs to look beyond the ACLU filter at some valid, unbiased
studies.

Corporate America does not invest in programs that do not provide a
return on its investment.

- -- Calvina L. Fay, executive director, Drug Free America Foundation
Inc., St. Petersburg