Hair, drug testing

McBay, A., The legal aspects of hair drug testing, in Proceedings, Second Intern. Meeting on Clinical and Forensic Aspects of Hair Analysis, Genoa, 1994. To be published by National Institute on Drug Abuse (in press). 

There are three primary types of drug tests blood, urine, and hair. Most common is the urine test which has the benefit of being inexpensive and less intrusive than the blood test. 

ACLU Drug Testing Briefing ACLU on the Inaccuracy of Hair Tests... 

There are five different types of drug tests urine, blood, hair, saliva, and sweat. Each one has different characteristics. By far the most common test is the urine test. 

Brian had to have a drug test to get his first job. The company was really strict, and they required all new employees to have a hair-sample drug test. It didn t seem too bad Brian just had to let someone cut some of his hair. He knew that he had taken some of those blue pills his friend Andy had, and he smoked pot, but he had stopped doing all that one month ago because he knew he would need to pass the test. But the hair sample easily showed his drug use over the past three months, and even being clean for one month didn t make a difference. Brian didn t get the job. And although he did get in trouble with his parents, he at least didn t get in trouble with the law. 

Kintz, P. (1996). Drug Testing in Hair. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press. 

C. Walls. Drug testing in hair a selective review in SOFT conference on hair, 1994. Published by Society of Forensic Toxicologists, Mesa, AZ. 

Also in 1993, in Holmes v Hotel San Remo, the Appeals Tribunal State of Nevada Employment Security Department found that the claimant was ineligible for benefits due to discharge for misconduct violation of a known and reasonable rule. Employees were notified that the employer would comply with the Drug Free Workplace Act and random hair analysis testing would occur following a 90-day grace period. Holmes hair test indicated recent cocaine use. She was found to be ineligible for benefits. 

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