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Proposed changes to federal workforce drug testing guidelines that are currently being reviewed by officials would remove screening for MDMA\u2014which has only rarely appeared in workers\u2019 urine samples during recent years\u2014and add testing for fentanyl, a substance that\u2019s become far more widespread in unregulated drug markets over the past decade.<\/p>\n
Both MDMA\u2014which the federal government could reschedule later this year\u2014and the related substance MDA, which the government would also remove from inclusion in required drug tests under the proposed changes, were less common in tests than PCP, which was also considered for removal from the testing panel but for now will remain.<\/p>\n
The offered changes were the topic of a meeting last month of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration\u2019s (SAMHSA) Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB), which advises the agency\u2019s drug testing and laboratory testing certification activities.<\/p>\n
While MDMA is slated for removal, fentanyl is \u201cinvolved in a large proportion of overdose deaths in the United States and is therefore an important public safety concern,\u201d SAMHSA said in a Federal Register posting about the meeting. It\u2019s also increasingly used as a standalone substance, the agency said. Previously the substance was more common in conjunction with other opioids or unintentionally as an adulterant in other unregulated drugs.<\/p>\n
The proposed threshold for a fentanyl positive under the Federal Workforce Drug Testing Programs would be 1 nanogram per milliliter of blood.<\/p>\n
Fentanyl was the third most frequently identified drug of all substances reported by forensic laboratories, according a 2022 National Forensic Laboratory Information System report cited by SAMHSA, accounting for 13.81 percent of all drug positives.<\/p>\n
As for the two psychedelics, SAMHSA\u2019s Federal Register posting says they\u2019re set for removal \u201cbecause the number of positive specimens reported by [Health and Human Services (HHS)]-certified laboratories does not support testing all specimens for MDA and MDMA.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) data from 2021 and 2022, the posting<\/a> says, \u201cthe positivity rate for MDMA ranges from 0.001 to 0.003%, and a review of the results indicate that >25% of the positive specimens are likely agency blind samples. MDA has a lower positivity rate than MDMA and both have lower positivity rates than phencyclidine (PCP).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSAMHSA also considered removing PCP,\u201d it adds, \u201cbut decided against this change.\u201d<\/p>\n SAMHSA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhile PCP has an overall positivity rate nearly as low as MDMA, there are regional differences in positivity, with some areas of the country having much higher rates,\u201d the agency explained, \u201cso PCP remains a regulated test analyte.\u201d<\/p>\n Case-by-case testing, for example in post-accident drug testing or instances where there\u2019s reasonable suspicion of use of MDMA or MDA, would still be permitted under the changes.<\/p>\n Financially, the removal of MDMA and MDA is expected to save between $3,800 and $38,000 per year, according to an NLCP cost\/benefit analysis of the changes, though it notes that additional administrative costs \u201cwill likely be incurred\u201d as a result of the change.<\/p>\n Adding fentanyl, meanwhile, would add a projected $9,139 to $192,850 in annual costs. The greater costs compared to the savings from MDMA\/MDA removal is the result of higher initial testing costs of $0.23 to $5 per specimen to test for fentanyl compared to $0.10 to $1.00 per specimen to test for the psychedelics.<\/p>\n Confirmation testing for both substances is the same, though the process for fentanyl is expected to add $304 to $2,850 in annual costs, while positivity rates in initial tests for MDMA and MDA are so low that savings on confirmation testing costs would be \u201cnegligible,\u201d the NLCP report says.<\/p>\n RTI International \/ NLCP via SAMHSA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Positivity rates have remained low for MDMA for more than a decade, according to a SAMHSA report on the proposed changes that looked at data stretching back to January 2013.<\/p>\n The highest positivity rate of all 10 years analyzed was 0.005%, with the last three consecutive years of data (2021\u20132023) showing rates of roughly 0.002%.<\/p>\n According to a SAMHSA slideshow from the meeting<\/a> last month, the next step on the proposal is for the board to present its responses to public comments received during a period that closed in January. Still ahead is a federal review process that could include multiple comment rounds and revisions, followed by a formal explanation and announcement of the changes.<\/p>\n DTAB previously discussed the changes at a meeting<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n SAMHSA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Betty Aldworth, director of communications and post-prohibition strategy for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), described the SAMHSA proposal as \u201ca bureaucratic change driven by the preponderance of fentanyl in the unregulated drug market and MDMA use patterns\u2014perhaps most notably that it is used rarely and doesn\u2019t have characteristics suited for the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n But she also said the decision will have \u201cat best, a neutral impact on the overdose crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the same failed drug war \u2018prevention\u2019 tactics that don\u2019t prevent chaotic drug use and further stigmatize people with opioid use disorder, a serious mental health condition,\u201d she told Marijuana Moment in an email. \u201cPublic safety would be better served\u2014more lives would be saved\u2014if the dollars were spent on workplace testing for fentanyl were immediately diverted to evidence-based treatment and overdose prevention activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldworth added that she\u2019s also concerned for those workers who use fentanyl with a doctor\u2019s prescription, \u201cas they may be forced to make a choice between their medical privacy or the ability to keep and get a job.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we wanted to make workplaces and roadways safer, we would immediately divest from expensive workplace drug testing and divert those resources to cognitive impairment testing, which could be installed on smart phones or even in vehicles and made a routine part of the workday,\u201d she said. \u201cImpairment can be caused by illegal drugs, prescription drugs, OTC drugs, fatigue, stress, grief, or even dehydration or hunger. Cognitive impairment testing is inexpensive, ubiquitously available, and a far better measure of a person\u2019s performance at any given moment.\u201d<\/p>\n SAMHSA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The proposed adjustments in the federal guidelines come as shifts in drug laws and use patterns force both public and private organizations to rethink drug testing programs.<\/p>\n Regarding marijuana, however, which has generally been the focus of most legislative discussions on illicit substances and driving, a Justice Department researcher said in February that states may need to \u201cget away from that idea\u201d that marijuana impairment can be tested based on the concentration of THC in a person\u2019s system<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, meanwhile, a federal traffic safety agency said there\u2019s \u201crelatively little research\u201d backing the idea<\/a> that THC concentrations in blood can be used to determine impairment, calling into question laws in several states that set \u201cper se\u201d limits for cannabinoid metabolites.<\/p>\n Separately, Job Corps, the national job-training program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, announced changes to its drug-screening protocol for marijuana earlier this year in order to avoid punishing young people for using cannabis prior to starting the program<\/a>.<\/p>\n And earlier this month, new data showed that the number of\u00a0positive drug tests among commercial drivers<\/a>\u00a0fell last year compared to the year before, dropping from 57,597 in 2022 to 54,464 in 2023. At the same time, however, the number of drivers who refused to be screened at all also increased by 39 percent.<\/p>\n More Than 90% Of Smokable Hemp Samples Analyzed By Researchers Contained Illegal Amounts Of THC, New Federal Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Pretty Drugthings<\/a> on Unsplash<\/em><\/p>\n The post Feds Consider Removing MDMA From Workplace Drug Testing While Adding Fentanyl Instead<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Proposed changes to federal workforce drug testing guidelines that are currently being reviewed by officials would remove screening for MDMA\u2014which has only rarely appeared in workers\u2019 urine samples during recent years\u2014and add testing for fentanyl, a substance that\u2019s become far more widespread in unregulated drug markets over the past decade.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":74550,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74551,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74549\/revisions\/74551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Drug](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-16-at-16.40.04-1024x577-1.png\")
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\nRead More: Feds Consider Removing MDMA From Workplace Drug Testing While Adding Fentanyl Instead<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"