Drug & Alcohol Updates
If you are not currently conducting substance abuse testing through USIS, and you would like more information on these services, please call (866) 205-6129.

Regulatory Updates:

From the U.S. DOT Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy & Compliance (ODAPC):

Hurricanes Katrina/Rita Guidance to Medical Review Officers (MROs)

Medical Review Officers working in the areas of hurricanes Katrina and Rita who have clients/testing in the impacted areas but cannot verify drug test results due to missing paperwork (e.g. certified true copy and/or MRO copy of CCF) should make a good faith effort to obtain the documents. If they are unable to get them, they should contact ODAPC at 202-366-3784 to discuss the situation.

[Editor’s Note: The hurricanes also have impacted employers and collection sites that may have had collections and alcohol testing conducted in impacted areas. Collection/testing documentation may have been destroyed or is unavailable. Employers should do their best to document any collection/testing that may have been accomplished and their efforts to obtain necessary documents.]

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From the National Institute on Drug Abuse:

Consequences of the abuse of Anabolic Steroids:
From the Director, Nora D. Volkow, M.D.

Anabolic steroids, which are synthetic versions of the primary male sex hormone testosterone, can be injected, taken orally or used transdermally (absorbed through the skin). These drugs are controlled substances that can be prescribed to treat conditions such as body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone. However, the doses prescribed to treat these medical conditions are 10 to 100 times lower than the doses that are abused for performance enhancement. <Read More>

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DID YOU KNOW?

• More than 96 million Americans have smoked marijuana at least once.
• Marijuana abuse is particularly prevalent among adolescents.
• Of the more than two million people who abuse the drug for the first time every year, two-thirds are between 12 and 17 years of age.

Compared with teens who never smoke marijuana, a boy or girl who smokes marijuana before age 17 is more than:

• Twice as likely to abuse opioids.
• Three times as likely to abuse cocaine or other stimulants.
• Four times as likely to abuse hallucinogens later in life.

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Marijuana-Related Disorders Rise Over the Past Decade:
[Editor’s Note: A “Focus On” article this past spring discussed marijuana and some of the false information that leads people to believe it is harmless. As the following information from National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) demonstrates, more and more research is being conducted and, the true danger from marijuana use becomes more and more clear.]

More Americans suffer from marijuana-related disorders now than a decade ago. Survey results from 2002, compared with data from a decade earlier, showed that rates of marijuana-related disorders increased from 30.2 percent overall to 35.6 percent among marijuana smokers. <Read More>

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FOCUS ON: Impaired Driving
[The DAC News Service seeks to inform by providing information on topics of broad interest and concern to employers. Therefore, from time-to-time, we will select subjects we believe to be relevant and informative to the workplace environment. This month’s topic is “Impaired Driving.”]

Impaired Driving

Impaired driving is a subject that everyone is aware of. However, few realize the extent of the problem and its impact on our society and the workplace. Truck drivers, administrative personnel, the sales force or someone who simply commutes back and forth to work can, and probably have, affected your employees and the workplace. Certainly, the results of impaired driving have impacted everyone in your community. It is our intent in this discussion to make you more aware of the extent and significance of the problem. <Read More>

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USIS Schedule

View the 2005 Schedule for Commercial Services.

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Published by USIS
Copyright © 2005 USIS. All rights reserved.

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