HAIR WE GO . . . A BETTER FORM OF DRUG TESTING

A MORE reliable form of drug testing which analyses hair instead of
urine or saliva was introduced to Bermuda at a public forum yesterday.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) partnered with the Psychemedics
Corporation, inventors of the patented method, to establish the practice here.

Its presence was welcomed by Health Minister Patrice Minors at a
workshop at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. The Minister lauded its
potential as a tool in improving the health of the community.

"Drugs are an increasing menace in our homes. They can devastate our
families and tear at the fabric of all that we hold dear to us. As
the Minister of Health & Family Services I am cognisant of the
impact that substance abuse has on our client base and I salute
any entity willing to stand up and be counted in the fight to
combat drug use in Bermuda."

The Psychemedics Corporation is the world's largest patented
provider of hair testing for drug abuse. The company was established
16 years ago and began offering drug testing services in 1987.

"(Drug abuse) affects -- directly or indirectly -- all of us," said
Raymond C. Kubacki, Jr., the company's president and chief executive officer.

"In the workplace, productivity suffers, quality control is affected
and workers' safety is jeopardised. In families, it robs our
children of their youth, vitality, health and future.

"Our technology enables us to offer a personal drug history over a
period of several months. Psychemedics' hair analysis has
consistently proven to be more effective than urinalysis and other
methods in correctly identifying drug abusers.

"In fact, when hair and urine results were compared
in 'side-by-side' evaluation, five to ten times as many drug
abusers were accurately identified with the Psychemedics hair test."

He explained that Psychemedics' test detects drug abuse for the
previous 90 days while urinalysis will only detect a maximum of
three days prior.

"Psychemedics' significantly longer testing window results in
superior detection rates over urinalysis. In addition, the
collection of a hair sample is easier and far less embarrassing than
a urine sample." The vast difference in results was what led the BHB
to partner with the American firm.

"We are excited about offering this vital service as one step in
combating substance abuse on our island," BHB director of Human
Resources Scott Pearman said.

"Hair follicle testing is an excellent tool for assessing drug use.
It must also be followed up with prevention education programmes,
rehabilitative services and community support networks."

Mrs. Minors agreed on the important role the testing will eventually
play, largely because of the destruction drugs have caused to so
many families here.

"Drugs are a destructive, debilitating and detrimental force in our
community," she said. "Drugs disable and destroy the physical
strength and metal stability of our society. They spawn social and
communal ills and render untold damage each day.

"Sadly, our health care system has to absorb too much of the burden
from illegal drug use. Moreover, this is something which all of us
end up paying for."

Employers, she continued, had a "vested responsibility and interest
to combat the use and abuse of drugs in our society "as it was in
the workforce where we see the results of abuse, largely in the form
of "diminished productivity and absenteeism".

"The Psychemedics Corporation's patented hair analysis method gives
employers a powerful tool in their arsenal. This will go a long way
to discourage employees from entering the workplace with the
residual evidence of drug use and to encourage others to stay clean.

"In this way, we can arrest the diminished productivity that drug
use is causing in our workplaces and have more productive and
energised employees.

"I wish to encourage all employees to establish, if you have not
already done so, drug policies and employee assistance programmes
whose first priority it is to educate and deter employees from using
drugs in the first instance. Secondly, it is my hope that those who
require additional help can be directed to rehabilitative resources."

The workshop for a Drug-Free Workplace continues at the Fairmont
Hamilton Princess today between 8.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m.
Representatives from the Psychemedics Corporation will be on hand.