Study says U.S. workforce drug test positivity hits highest level in two decades

The rate of positive drug test results among America’s workforce reached its highest rate last year since 2001, said a new study published on Wednesday.

The number was up more than 30 percent in the combined U.S. workforce from an all-time low in 2010-2012, according to the annual drug testing index by Quest Diagnostics, a leading provider of diagnostic information services in the United States.

The overall positivity rate in the combined U.S. workforce, based on nearly 9 million urine drug tests collected between January and December 2021, was up in 2021 to 4.6 percent compared to 4.4 percent in 2020 and up 31.4 percent from the all-time low of 3.5 percent just 10 years ago, the study showed.

The study found that positivity rates for marijuana in the general U.S. workforce, based on more than 6 million urine tests, continued an upward climb, increasing 8.3 percent. Over five years, positivity for marijuana in the general U.S. workforce increased 50 percent.

The combined U.S. workforce includes the general U.S. workforce of mostly company-policy testing by private employers as well as the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce, which includes federal employees and the transportation and nuclear power industries, and can include workers such as pilots, truck drivers, train conductors and others required to drug test under federal legislation, according to the study.

After five years of steady declines in several drug categories, positivity rates based on urine drug tests for the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce increased in 2021. Of note, marijuana increased 8.9 percent, amphetamines increased 7.8 percent, and cocaine increased 5.0 percent, said the study.

“Employers are wrestling with significant recruitment and retention challenges as well as with maintaining safe and engaging work environments that foster positive mental and physical wellbeing,” said Keith Ward, general manager and vice president, Quest Diagnostics Employer Solutions, in a news release, noting that those data raise important questions about what it means to be an employer committed to employee health and safety.