Hair Tests for Drug Use Poised for Endorsement
This story appears in the June 22 print edition of Transport Topics.
ROCKVILLE, Md. — An advisory board appears on track to issue a recommendation this summer that hair specimens be approved for preemployment drug screening of truck drivers and other safety-sensitive federal workers.
“I’m 99% sure that we’re going to approve hair testing,” Ronald Flegel, chairman of the nine-member drug testing board, told Transport Topics. “I’m comfortable that we’ve eliminated the obstacles to approving hair testing.”
Flegel is also a division director for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The advisory board, which met June 12 at SAMHSA headquarters here, has scheduled meetings for Aug. 6-7 to discuss public comments. The board is then expected to vote via secret ballot on a final proposal that would be sent to SAMHSA Administrator Pamela Hyde.
If Hyde agrees, the recommendation would be forwarded to the Department of Health and Human Services, which then could issue proposed hair-testing guidelines.
The Department of Transportation typically adopts, but also tailors, some of the procedures of HHS’s final drug testing requirements. The current protocol is to use urine samples.
In an audio briefing to the board, Patrice Kelly, acting director of the DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance, said her agency views drug testing as a “serious safety issue.”
Kelly said that, in 2014, HHS certified labs conducted 6.3 million DOT drug tests, yielding a positive rate of 1.79% during the last half of 2014.
Marijuana, amphetamines and cocaine, respectively, netted the highest number of positive test results, Kelly said.
Last month, SAMSHA issued a request for scientific and other information from the public and stakeholders about hair testing. Board members said at the June 12 meeting that they plan to extend the public comment period by 30 days, until July 29.
Flegel said the board, which includes lab executives, is largely convinced that hair testing should be allowed but wanted to seek further public comment before making a final decision.
On May 15, HHS published a new proposal that would allow oral fluid testing of truck drivers. Comment on the proposal will close July 14.
Slow progress on hair testing and an alleged lack of transparency with the process have frustrated some in the trucking industry.
As a result, some carriers have been using hair specimens for testing wouldbe employees before administering urine tests. They claim hair samples are more reliable than urine because they can identify drug use dating as far as 90 days.
Abigail Potter, research analyst for American Trucking Associations, said ATA is pleased that the drug testing board is moving forward.
“ATA supports hair testing because it is a much better detection method in identifying drug users before we put them behind the wheel,” Potter said.
The advisory board has been studying hair testing for two years, including combing the results of more than 1,200 peer-reviewed papers, said Janine Cook, SAMHSA’s designated official of the board.
In 2004, HHS proposed guidelines that would have allowed hair testing but pulled back the proposal in 2008 after the public and federal agencies raised concerns.
