If you drive a truck for a living, you have taken, at minimum, one DOT five-panel drug screen in order to be certified for a CDL. But in all likelihood, you have taken far more than just one.
Trucking companies all perform pre-employment drug screens. Some also test their drivers at random, while others rely on scheduled drug screens and post-accident drug test results for termination and liability purposes. Even when a truck driver knows that they consumed no illegal substances, they may stress over taking a drug screen due to the possibility of false positive results.
Are You Worried a False Positive Drug Screen Could Shut Down Your Career?
Decades ago, when drug testing was first introduced in the trucking industry, a trucker’s chances of getting a false positive result on their drug screens were much higher. But years of experience refining these tests and expanding the drug-testing protocols make false positive results far less likely.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that false positives can still occur. Below is some information on false positive drug screens that can prove useful to OTR truckers.
How False Positives Occur
Drug screens don’t just test for the banned substances themselves but also for the metabolites of a banned drug. After ingestion, drugs break down in the body and produce these metabolites that can be chemically quite similar to many legal OTC drugs or even foods.
Then, the same sample is subject to a secondary screen that is far more intensive and precise. Those results will either rule out or confirm the presence of an illegal drug in a trucker’s urine.
Truckers with false positive results may be contacted by the testing firm’s medical research officer to determine what may have led to a false result on the urinalysis. This is where full disclosure of all the possibly suspect foods or OTC meds and supplements you ingested might save your career.
Is a Positive Drug Screen the Death Knell of a Trucking Career?
Make no mistake — it certainly can be. At the least, DOT mandates require truckers who failed drug screens to be suspended (usually without pay) from job duties that are safety-sensitive. However, you are more likely to be terminated immediately by your employer.
Is There a Path Back to Redemption?
Upon completion of a mandatory drug training and treatment plan overseen by a qualified substance abuse professional, your company might consider you eligible for rehire.
Don’t count on this, though. Truckers under the influence of illegal drugs present enormous liability issues to the companies that employ them. It’s far better to give all illegal drugs a wide berth.
Sources: huntertires.com, goodhire.com
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