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Drug testing in jobs

  • 10-09-2021 10:35pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 43


    Should they become commonplace here? With all the problems with cocaine and cannabis use among all ages here, it seems the best way to quash it would be for more companies to introduce drug testing like they do in the U.S.

    I have a relative who works in HR for a very big company. They had a perfect candidate (went to an Ivy League) but after his drug test came back, they informed him that he couldn't get the job. AFAIK, I've never heard of that happening here besides on building sites.

    But then again, law enforcement and the courts around drugs in the States is much more harsh than anything here.



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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 20,907 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    Certainly got me clean for 3 weeks before the test ;) cannabis Is the worst 2 weeks to a month to get that out of your wee



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,707 ✭✭✭✭Hello 2D Person Below


    Workplace drug tests are worthless.

    Even the Yanks are starting to cop on to what a tremendous waste of money it is.

    Providing support to employees that may have an issue with drugs/alcohol is far more beneficial.



  • Registered Users Posts: 24,695 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    My last job it was according to our contract ok for them to have us drug tested... I’m not sure what if any criteria might have had to be met for them to request / enforce the test but I never heard it being done...

    funnily enough any Christmas doo it was mostly management of every level wandering around coked up...disappearing into the bathroom every hour or whatever and acting the cûnt.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,509 ✭✭✭PsychoPete


    You shouldn't need drug testing in work for people not to take them, people should have that level of cop on by themselves



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,993 ✭✭✭c.p.w.g.w


    Those tests are very easy to pass...I once was somewhat of an expert on that such topic...



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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,993 ✭✭✭c.p.w.g.w


    3 days off it...along with the right supplements will get you pass...has worked for my buddy the last 3 times his been tested and many other people who I know...they must go with cheapest possible tests



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,157 ✭✭✭chrissb8


    To quash it? As in quashing people's autonomy as to what they put in their bodies? Work already has a monopoly on most people's time, why the hell would anyone invite the possibility of letting them dictate how you live outside of it.

    Drug testing in jobs is, in my mind at least, a violation of the privacy and freedom someone has to live their lives. I have worked with the type who would go hard and heavy on drugs on the weekend and then come on and be the best consistent workers in a place.

    I have also known lazy slobs who barely do a tap in work and have taken no substances at no point in their life.

    All that matters to a company is performance and that can be measured in numerous ways without policing, to a degree, how they spend their free time.

    Ludicrous, what next, full-on sports medicals to examine the physical state of a potential employee.



  • Registered Users Posts: 43 maeve99


    I agree with you but I was offering an possible measure. Don't agree with it personally.

    What drugs do your coworkers take? Ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, meth?



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,006 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    How's that "harshness" working out for them?



  • Registered Users Posts: 80,798 ✭✭✭✭Atlantic Dawn


    I'd support them only if every single person in that organisation was subject to them, if higher ups or say those not operating machinery were exempt I'd be against them. If it's brought in for teachers, Gardai, Army(already is?) then those in the Dail should be subject to it too, including driving up to their hole in prescribed drugs.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,780 ✭✭✭BalcombeSt4


    I wish I could test out drugs for my job.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,385 ✭✭✭Pauliedragon


    As long as it doesn't I interfere with your ability to do your job then what you do in your time is none of their business I think. I took speed, pills, coke every weekend in my early-mid twenties. Whilst you'd get the odd bad comedown from the pills I was always fresh for work otherwise. The one thing I would say that would've affected my productivity the most would be a booze hangover. The tiredness and lethargy from that was way worse than the other stuff.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,244 ✭✭✭Brid Hegarty




  • Registered Users Posts: 20,907 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    I tested my self daily and it took 8 days (25 years Of smoke )



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,993 ✭✭✭c.p.w.g.w


    What else were you taking? The best way to pass, is to muddy the waters so to speak...It has worked for people i know



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,707 ✭✭✭✭Hello 2D Person Below


    What not for the company, providing support to employees?



  • Registered Users Posts: 20,907 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    This was a gp medical which checks for the byproduct of cannabis which binds to your fat cells a regular smoker would be hard pressed to be clear in 3 days , any decent gp would spot muddy waters



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,993 ✭✭✭c.p.w.g.w


    Well i can tell you, of my 3 people whom i personally know who passed their Drug Tests with the protocol i'd recommended...2 test were for work in MedTech companies & 1 was a prison service mandated drug test for someone out on release...Drugs were a mix of Cannabis, Coke & Amphetamines...

    But there are at least 4 others, who were friends of friends/family that also passed varies drug tests with the protocol that i recommended...In saying that, the last person i help was 3 years ago, so drug tests are maybe better now


    P.S all tests were urine, not blood



  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,946 Mod ✭✭✭✭igCorcaigh


    Start with alcohol then.

    I failed a drug test for cannabis when applying for my first job. They still hired me, but they didn't even ask for drugs to be included in the medical screen (the company was pharma). Money maker on the part of the private hospital.

    But the amount of drinking amongst the staff was unreal. Everyone hungover on Fridays.

    If people are doing their job, then I consider it an evasion of privacy. Totally against.



  • Registered Users Posts: 11,143 ✭✭✭✭B.A._Baracus


    Depends on the job. Like I could understand some doctor or nurse getting drug tests as the well being or life of someone else can be in their hands...

    But working in a shoe shop say? No point is there lol.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,244 ✭✭✭Brid Hegarty


    I thought of it just as a way of making sure they don't hire any junkies. I don't know if companies feel they can afford such a luxury.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,244 ✭✭✭Brid Hegarty


    I remember I was once notified that I was going to be drug tested during an interview for internship with Medtronic. I wasn't comfortable with this and told them that I'd be willing to undergo the test if I was successful in the interview.

    I didn't get the place. Might have had something to do with it seeming arrogant to decline such a thing.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,707 ✭✭✭✭Hello 2D Person Below


    You would think that, but the test themselves are wholly unreliable.

    Most drug tests don't actually test for drugs, they test for chemicals (metabolites) that remain after drugs break down. So the tests don't actually determine whether someone is under the influence or not. Some of these metabolites last a few days, others can last weeks. Tests show up false positives quite regularly and the far more accurate test is multiples more expensive. Even after this more accurate and expensive test, the person should ideally see a doctor because other, harmless, things could result in a positive result. A common medication like Ibuprofen can throw up a positive test result. Even poppy seeds, which have all sorts of wonderful health benefits, can trigger a positive result.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I think if I was running a business I would go full meritocracy on the whole thing. Why would I want to test for drugs of any kind if my primary concern is whether or not they are doing their job well or not? Meeting the conditions of their work contract or not?

    In fact the only people I would want to drug test would be the high performers so I could work out what their secret is :)



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,765 ✭✭✭✭Potential-Monke


    If it's brought in, I'm screwed. Heavy cannabis user for the last 5 or so years, and loving it. If I went cold turkey, it would take a long time for the test to be clear for me. But, it's not affecting my work at all. I've only gotten positive feedback and all boxes ticked for the top bonus/raise for the 2 years I'm here, and another one in a few months which I can't see any reason of not meeting (I'd actively have to harm my prospects of meeting "targets"). People I worked with previously spent half their time hungover, definitely still drunk a few times. I did it myself back in the day. It's not just accepted, it's nearly expected in some places.

    So no, I'd be against the testing of cannabis anyway.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,959 ✭✭✭kirk.


    If you get drug tested at a.checkpoint.youre also screwed



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,385 ✭✭✭Pauliedragon


    When I was running nights at a large pub/nightclub at one point half the staff were on Ritalin on weekends (not an illegal drug I know but illegal without prescription) and never saw such great productivity. Tills always bang on, service as efficient as I've seen and they needed very little direction during the night which freed me up to deal with all the other nonsense.



  • Registered Users Posts: 32,879 ✭✭✭✭Princess Consuela Bananahammock


    What problems do cocaine and cannabis cause in the workplace? I'd argue hangovers and drinking has caused more issues for employers.

    If they miss out on the perfect employee because they do a bit of weed in the evening and have to take someone substandard, they don't deserve to be in business all that long.

    Everything I don't like is either woke or fascist - possibly both - pick one.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,765 ✭✭✭✭Potential-Monke


    Not unless I've smoked within the last 6 hours, allegedly. The roadside drug test tests saliva, and allegedly it can't detect beyond 6 hours. If they decide to take me back to the station for a doctor, yeah, I'm fucked. But I don't drive if I've smoked at all that day, so I should be grand. I've an entire court case planned in my head for when it happens!



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  • Registered Users Posts: 43 maeve99


    The high performers are more likely to be on amphetamines. They increase productivity (for a short while at least).



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