AFFIRMATIVE — WORKPLACE DRUG TESTING — SIGNIFICANCE 267

WORKPLACE DRUG TESTING IS PERVASIVE

8% OF COMPANIES USE DRUG TESTING

Robert Verkaik, The Independent (London), March 7, 1999, SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 2 TITLE: BIG BROTHER IS SERIOUSLY DAMAGING YOUR HEALTH Web // acs-EE2001

The report, which collected information from its trade union members and other organisations interested in workers' rights, showed that as much as 8 per cent of companies now use drug testing.

DRUG TESTING IN THE WORKPLACE IS THE MOST COMMON PRIVACY INVASION

Barbara Ehrenreich; The New York Times, March 5, 2000, SECTION: Section 6; Page 88; TITLE: Warning: This Is a Rights-Free Workplace // acs-VT2001

But the most ubiquitous invasion of privacy is drug testing, usually of urine, more rarely of hair or blood. With 81 percent of large companies now requiring some form of drug testing -- up from 21 percent in 1987 -- job applicants take it for granted that they'll have to provide a urine sample as well as a resume. This is not restricted to "for cause" testing -- of people who, say, nod or space out on the job. Nor is it restricted to employees in "safety-sensitive occupations," like airline pilots and school-bus drivers. Workers who stack boxes of Cheerios in my local supermarkets get tested, as do the editorial employees of this magazine, although there is no evidence that a weekend joint has any more effect on Monday-morning performance than a Saturday-night beer.