Rate of workers testing positive for marijuana use up 47% in since 2013, says major U.S. drug testing firm
Surge in positive results accompanies expanding marijuana legalization policies
For Immediate Release
September 19, 2016
ALEXANDRIA, VA – A new report, released recently by major drug testing firm Quest Diagnostics, reveals a 47% spike in the rate of positive oral marijuana test results in U.S. workplaces from 2013 to 2015 — and more detailed data shows an incredible 178% rise in that rate from 2011 to 2015.
The Quest study draws from over 900,000 oral workforce drug tests in 2015 alone. It also indicates that after years of declining drug use in the workplace, the percentage of employees in the combined U.S. workforce testing positive for drugs has steadily risen over the last three years to a reach 10-year high.
“Yet again, we see more information that expanding marijuana legalization policies are having serious negative impacts on the public, in this case in the workplace,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, co-founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM). “The commercial interests of the pot lobby are placed ahead of the well-being of our communities and of almost every other economic sector.”
“Studies like these also belie quixotic promises of tax revenue windfalls for states,” said Jeffrey Zinsmeister, SAM’s Executive Vice President. “Legal drugs already cost employers literally hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Adding more marijuana use to the mix will inevitably increase those costs further, and outweigh the relatively meager gains in tax collection.”
For more information about marijuana policy, please visit https://learnaboutsam.org.