Drug Test Negative - Still Fired?

hello folks, i'm very new to all this, trucking that is, but after having been in the military for quite some time, i decided early on drugs were not something i wanted in my life. and after some problems with alcohol, all but dropped that from my list of things i enjoyed. i will still have one or two drinks at home, but not if i'm going anywhere.

i saw first hand what drug use can do to people, and the adverse affects it can have on ones life. also, as an aircraft mechanic, i never wanted to be the cause of any pilot not coming home in one piece, and bring that airplane i'd spent so many hours working on back in the same shape he took it out in. i never worried about passing a drug test, no reason for me too. now if i could just get past the nicotine, i would feel even better.

as an aside here, i will be starting cdl school next week. that is why i'm so new to trucking. my older brother put may miles on rigs when i was in my 20's and 30's. and i did spend a lot of time with him in the cab but never drove. i saw a lot of people do very stupid things in front of those rigs, and i'm glad he was also not a drug user. had he been, i'm sure i would have seen someone find out what 40 tons going over the top of them would do to their day.

i wonder tho, how may want to be drivers will refuse to give up what can ruin them and kill someone else? or take the personal resposibility to refuse to get pulled into drug use. and how many are going to waste time and money on those "system cleaning" products?

i appologize for taking up so much space and time on this, but it is something i do feel deeply aobut. the military has a zero tolerance policy on illeagal drug use, this industry should be the same. we can't afford to push a rig down the road if we aren't sober in every sense of the word.

 

And I desire to return the same to you. While it was many years ago, the pain is still fresh. I grieve for all of the loved ones in my life that I have lost over the years. That loss however, still hurts to the bone today.

Agreed 100%. As with many things in life, there is a time and a place for it. Some things were never meant to be mixed or mingled.

 

I'm sorry, I fell asleep. Where were we? Oh yeah, talking about Swift drivers.

 

About five years ago my daughter went to High school with the flu. She had cough/congestion and a slight fever. She took some over the counter cough syrup before school. At school she told her PE/Coach she felt too weak for the track run, Coach did not believe her so she started her run and made almost a mile before collapsing. She was kind of weak/dizzy and had slurry/fuzzy speech. Ambulance comes and she goes to hospital. They take blood sample and say it tests Positive for drug PCP. I get page from wife and head to hospital, big scene there with police and MD's and wife arguing with both. I told ER Doc story about flu/cough med and he said that could give a false positive but not for PCP. I believed daughter, but test was positive. Told them I wanted a second blood sample drawn and sealed in front of wife and I that I could submit to independant lab. They refused. They called that evening and said secondary analysis was Negative! As a newbie/wannabee I have a question regarding this drug/alcohol testing. I am not too concerned since I dont do either (like my daughter) but am somewhat paranoid. After you give sample to (whom?) are the tests performed at that moment or sent somewhere for analysis ? If they are sent elsewhere for testing do you have the right to keep a sealed sample in your custody in case of a false positive ?
Does anyone know what false positive ratios are ? After that experiance with my daughter, my faith in the system was sure put in doubt. Thanks for any further info.

 

The place I had my drug test, the nurse waited outside the bathroom. When I was done I handed her the jar and she asked to watch her as she brought it back to the room. She placed it into the two tubes and sealed it in front of me and asked me to confirm they were sealed. Not sure if all places do that but I thought that was fairly good way of doing it. I also had to sign a form stating she did all of the above and it was sealed in my presense. etc..

 

When i took mine same thing happened, had to sign that I watched her seal it. But most places will send the test to another facility, I believe they sent mine to New Jersey from WI.

 

Ok time for my 2 cents, please stop talking about people who smoke pot like their worthless pieces of dog doo. Its not fair at all....I used to do it myself and quit about 4 months ago when I decided I wanted to be a driver. Now saying that it has no place behind the wheel is one thing but treating someone like it makes them on par with murderers and rapists is totally unfair. I have done many a things in my life that I am not proud of but smokin pot is NOT one of them. If I didn't smoke pot when I was a kid I can name many a people that would be pushing up daiseys because it was my prozac it kept me calm when people ticked me off. Pot is only a gateway drug to weak minded people whom would have been crack and cokeheads no matter what....because they are the kind of people that run from problems instead of meeting them head on. There is NOTHING wrong with smoking on a saturday then driving a few days later anyone with half a brain would know that your no longer under the influence of the tetrahydrocannabinol. Granted I am in no way saying that DOT should not drug test I think drug testing is a good thing as TT said someone under the influence should not be driving an 80,000 lb truck. I agree that if you do the crime you do the time but you people have no right trashing people for this....people who do this will get whats coming as this thread proves there is no need to talk trash about her husband to her....its just not right. Its like kicking someone when their down. This at least the second thread I have seen with this since I joined here and it upsets me because everyone is usually such nice people but the word pot or marihauna comes out and you guys are like wolves on the last piece of meat. Again I want to say again that I am not condoning his actions.....I just think that tearing this guy down to his wife is wrong. Not only to him but to her. Turbo my condolances as well.

 

Yeh I am sick of people saying its a gatewat drug blah blah blah. I had coke offered to me a few times at parties while a little stoned. An every time offered I said no friggin way, I aint no crack head. In my mind pot it less leathal and less damaging than alcohol. How many people have died from overdose of THC? None, how many people have died as a result of alcohol?? Cant even begin to count. Also almost everyone I have ever talked to has tried or enjoys smoking a little weed on the weekends. Hopefully some day they will make weed legal, if they did the govt could make a lot of money off of it. Just my $.04's

 

I know I am on my soapbox this morning, and maybe when I am pushing up dasies I will get off it BUT (there is always a but somewhere) until I do, I am compelled to respond to this post.

First saying that smoking pot does not put you on the same level as a rapist or a murderer is NOT correct. There are so MANY crimes associated with the drug trade that it is sickening....and I know I am including all drugs in that last statement. When anyone makes the choice to smoke a joint, snort a line or shoot up they are infact contributing to crimes of all levels, murder,shooting,robbery, and child abuse to name a few. They are also supporting a dealer who has no moral fiber and could care less about the lives of the people he is ruining. The dealer could care less where the money comes from that he is taking from the user, child support, sale of stolen property, prostitution or welfare the source makes no difference to them. They dont care if the user has a place to live, food to eat, if the children of the user have diapers and formula or medical treatment or a roof over their heads. People who get sucked into the life of drugs quite often end up being a burden to the public, either in jail, on welfare, their children being taken care of in foster care the list goes on and on.

Drug dealers (the big ones and even some minor ones) have fancy cars, nice homes, vacations and lots of other pleasantries of life. They are criminals and they inflict their crimes on all of us. I know drug use will never be stopped in this country, I also know that the drug trade creates victims out of everyone from the occasional user to the person who never touches the stuff. There is a HUGE out cry in this nation to accept bad behavior, to give people a break, well when is that gonna quit? IF an adult makes choices that cause them to fail a drug test there should be NO room for a break. DUH! Some people have to be forced to face the penalties for their actions, and the innocent victims of such behavior. Maybe this guy needs counseling, he certainly does not need/deserve to be praised.!

I know there are plenty of people that will disagree with my thoughts and if any are offended I appologize now. Having delt with the drug issue more than once with family members I know how the story goes and there is NO room for tolerance.