Drug Testing
If you go on a job interview and someone from the company asks you to take a drug test, do not be offended. Drug testing is almost common today in many industries. Because of the cost involved in having employees who abuse drugs, companies are not only doing drug testing on potential employees, but also random drug testing on current employees as well.
If you have not taken any illegal drugs, you should not be worried about drug testing for a job. There is a myth that you can test positive if you have been around secondhand marijuana smoke, but that is not true. Even if you live with someone who smokes marijuana regularly, illegally or with a prescription for chronic pain, you will not test positive. If your test does come back positive, there is something else causing it. Are you taking any prescription medication? Often that can interfere with drug testing. If you are taking prescription medication of any kind, be sure to tell the tester before the drug test is administered. Sometimes in the case of a false positive result, it may be that the test kit provided to you was either out of date or not functioning properly. You should not be refused employment for a positive drug testing result. If a positive is returned, the employer will probably ask you to go to a laboratory for future, more accurate testing.
If you have been using illegal drugs, stop as soon as you can. Many will work their way out of your system in time for you to pass drug testing. If you are hired, begin using the drugs again, but want help in quitting, see what your company’s policies are on that. Some companies value employees so much that they offer drug counseling to those with substance abuse problems without fear of dismissal.
Disclaimer: Cliff Schaffer does not personally endorse or support any of the comments made within the writings of this article.
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