DOT Adding Test for ‘Ecstasy’ as Part of Stricter Drug Rules

This story appears in the Aug. 23 print edition of Transport Topics.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it is adding new tests for transportation workers to detect the designer drug “ecstasy,” while also lowering the positive threshold amounts of amphetamines and cocaine and adding a new marker to identify heroin use.

The agency’s final rule, effective Oct. 1, is expected to identify an additional 8,000 transportation workers annually as illegal drug users, DOT said.

In 2009, there were slightly more than 14,000 confirmed positive test results for amphetamines/methamphetamines and nearly 13,000 for cocaine, DOT said.

While the department noted the vast majority of truck drivers do not engage in illegal drug use, a DOT spokeswoman said the rule is an added deterrent “because truckers will know that they may be more likely to be detected, even if smaller amounts of some drugs are found in their specimens.”

The new rule will cost the agency an additional $2.2 million annually, but DOT said in its Aug. 16 Federal Register notice it “will be cost beneficial to identify the illegal drug use of an additional 8,000 safety-sensitive transportation employees annually, across all modes.”

DOT also said the new drug-testing rule was designed to mesh with most of the U.S. Health and Human

Services drug-testing regulations, because they are considered “scientific experts in these matters.”

Dave Osiecki, senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs for American Trucking Associations, said the federation supports the new rule. “They will help to identify some substance abusers who may be avoiding detection under the existing procedures,” he said.

However, Osiecki said DOT could further help the industry to identify substance abusers by establishing a national clearinghouse for positive test results and by authorizing the use of alternative specimens such as hair.

DOT said it does not oppose such alternative technologies as hair and saliva testing, but will wait for HHS to implement those changes, if needed.

It will continue to require that urine specimens be collected using the “direct observation” method for all return-to-duty and follow-up testing. The direct observation method of urine collection was ruled constitutional last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Truckers and other transportation employees who do “safety-sensitive functions” receive pre-employment drug testing. Transportation employees also must submit to random and post-accident testing and be tested when an employer has “reasonable suspicion” of drug use.

If an employee tests positive, it is a trucking industry practice that he or she not be hired, or if already employed, be fired, said Osiecki.

The transportation industry was generally supportive of the new drug rule in written comments, DOT said. Some in the industry, however, said they did not believe it was necessary to test for MDMA, commonly known by its street name, “ecstasy.” They said it is strictly a “club drug” for younger people.

DOT disagreed, however, and said testing for the drug was warranted, partly because it is one that will be tested by HHS. DOT disputed the notion that MDMA is strictly a “club drug,” saying it is being marketed to a much larger population in U.S. communities.

The department also said it was lowering the testing threshold for cocaine, based on data provided by testing laboratories.

In 2009, nearly 13,000 DOT drug tests reported by laboratories were confirmed “positive” for cocaine. The agency said it would expect an additional 4,000 cocaine users to be identified under the new testing rule.

“These new, lower cutoffs should result in the department identifying more cocaine users, further assuring the traveling public that the transportation system is the safest it can be,” DOT said.

Laboratory data show the new screening cutoffs for amphetamines and methamphetamines could result in a 30% increase in positive tests compared with current standards, DOT said.

The rule also calls for testing to identify the marker 6-Acetylmorphine, or 6-AM — a unique metabolite produced when a person uses the illicit drug heroin.

However, based on one lab’s testing for the 6-AM marker, the new test will not likely identify large numbers of heroin users, DOT said. Quest Laboratories reviewed 1.2 million test results, and of those specimen results, only 112 tested positive for 6-AM.

DOT’s rule also adds a requirement that medical review officers at the 38 testing sites certified nationwide by Health and Human Services be recertified every five years.