DRUG TESTS ARE REALLY 'LIFESTYLE TESTING'

From the very first "drug test" to the present, the very nature of the
methods used for screening reduce these tests to nothing more than
"lifestyle testing."

Furthermore, only certain lifestyles result in a "failure" of these tests.
It's not about public safety or employee safety, and it is not about
identifying true, real-time impairment of employees before their shift
begins. It's about fear, control and oppression.

Moreover, the most popular methods of testing (urine, sweat, blood and
hair) do not measure true, "real time" impairment. They only measure
non-psychoactive metabolites that can be present days or weeks after the
effects of substances have subsided.

Meanwhile, those who would have other individuals submit to the tests
claim, "It may not be a fair or effective test but it is all we have."

This excuse dilemma will no longer hold water. Saliva testing will prove to
be cheaper. Those truly interested in the bottom line will have the chance
to prove it.

Saliva testing will be simpler (it can be performed by almost anyone with
chain of custody problems being next to nil).

Saliva testing will be much less time-consuming (it can be administered on
site -- before and even after a shift -- instead of having to drive people
to a clinic).

Most important, saliva testing will measure and indicate, without a doubt,
what employers, insurers and others in authority say they fervently require
and want: true, current, real time, up-to-the-minute impairment of individuals.

MYRON VON HOLLINGSWORTH, Fort Worth