DRUG TESTING FOR TEACHERS

Is it true there is going to be drug testing for teachers? it's about time

I would not be surprised.

[choccolate tie]

northport contract is up in near future lets start there with drug testing in their contract

[Pat-med]

About 12 years ago The Pat-Med school board tried to have drug testing for pat-med teachers. There was a lawsuit filed by the teachers union to stop it. This is a landmark case. The teachers union won in court. I believe it violated their constitutional rights.
Good Luck
Yet its funny that the same union wants to drug test kids.
whats good for the goose is not always good for the gander I guess

the pat-med teacher's union won all of those battles with that board if i remember correctly. Long live Jane Conetta!

How about drug testing for all parents of children in our schools? I mean if you are stoned or high, how are you supposed to properly supervise your kids, make sure they get their homework done, got a proper breakfast, dressed warmly enough, etc. You get the point. And statistics show that parents who use drugs are more likely to have kids who use drugs.

Now let's get real.....

If any of the people who support drug testing ever knew what those tests actually measure, and how many people have had their careers and lives ruined by false-positives, they wouldn't be so quick to demand drug testing. I know because I was a Fitness for Duty Manager.

Drug testing is a farce. It does NOT measure whether or not a person is fit for duty, or high, or stoned. It measures a person's exposure to chemical compounds (often falsely) by detecting trace amounts of the breakdown products (metabolites) of those compounds (and often other non-related compounds) in hair, saliva and urine. Drug testing does not take into account whether or not a person willfully consumed or used an illegal drug. It you have a positive result for a metabolite, and you can't explain it to the MRO (medical review officer) or he/she doesn't like your answer, you are guilty. PERIOD!

What happen if you fail a drug test? Permanent employees are usually forced into a mandatory drug rehab program (if they are lucky and often at their own cost) and/or subject to disciplinary action up to and including firing. Temporary employees and contractors are almost always fired on the spot. Job applicants are often permanently banned from ever being hired by a company. Note: Most job applicants never even get a chance to speak to an MRO if they fail a test. Many small companies don't have the money to pay for an MRO or expensive confirmatory tests, and many companies have no appeals process to challenge an applicant test result. And here is the real kicker, other employers can call a previous employer or comapny you applied with, to see if you ever failed a drug test, and they don't always have to tell you.

Think about that the next time you take one of the Vicodins (Opiates) left over from a tooth extraction, a year or two later when you sprain your ankle playing tennis. Or you have a slice of granny's traditional poppy seed cake (Opiates) over the holidays, but don't remember eating it a week later when you fail your drug test. Or worse yet, the company testing you only does an EIA or RIA test with no confirmatory GC/MS, and you forgot to tell them that you took two Advil (THC) that morning for menstrual cramps, or you had a few gin and tonics (Cocaine & Opiates) at your daughter's wedding the night before the test. Maybe you have a cold or allergies and use Nyquil, Contact, Sudafed, Allerest, Tavist-D, Dimetapp, Phenegan-D, Robitussin Cold and Flu, Vicks inhaler or Afrin (Amphetamines & Ecstacy). Got Asthma and are taking Marax, Bronkaid tablets or Primatine Tablets (Amphetamines). Trying to shed afew pounds and you take diet aids with phenylpropanolamine like Dexatrim and Accutrim (Amphetamines). YOU'RE BUSTED DRUGGIE! Of course you could suffer from a host of medical conditions that you don't want divulge as well, like Kidney infection, Kidney disease, diabetes, Liver Disease (THC, Opiates, Ecstacy, Cocaine, Amphetamines)

Note: The total number of other drugs both presciption and OTC than can cause false positives are too numerous to include here.

Better hope you have a lot of savings too, because depending what you do for a living, you can be black-balled from your chosen profession for that failed drug test - FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

If you don't think this really happens to people, or that the number of incidents is small, then you are VERY wrong. Here are some more facts about drug testing:

According to a report by the Los Angeles Times New Service, a study of 161 prescription and over the counter medications showed that 65 of them produced false positive results in the most widely administered urine test. Ronald Siegel, a psychopharmacologist at UCLA said 'The widespread testing and reliance on tell-tale traces of drugs in the urine is simply a panic reaction invoked because the normal techniques for controlling drug use haven't worked very well. The next epidemic will be testing abuse."

Byrd Labs has in its possession an internal document from the Syva Company, makers of the widely used EMIT test. This document, leaked by a disillusioned company employee, lists more than 250 over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs that can cause false positives.

Amphetamine false positives are the most common. Recent articles in the Journal of Clinical Chemistry ,Vol. 38 No.12 1992 and Vol. 39 No.3 1993 warn that medications containing chloropromazine, fluspirilene, and others may yield a positive when tested for amphetamines. With the current epidemic of crystal meth (methamphetamine) abuse in this country, nearly all drug testing programs test for amphetamines now.

ALL DRUGS CONTAINING THE WIDELY USED PAIN RELIEVER IBUPROFEN ARE KNOWN TO CAUSE POSITIVE SAMPLES FOR MARIJUANA. NON-STEROIDAL ANTI INFLAMMATORIES SUCH AS NAPROXYN HAVE CROSS REACTED IN BLIND TESTS. THESE ARE OFTEN PRESCRIBED FOR RUNNERS, SPORTS INJURIES TO JOINTS, AND THOSE SUFFERING FROM ARTHRITIS.

Nyquil Nighttime Cold Medicine will test positive for Methadone up to two days.

Antibiotics. Certain newly developed antibiotics have cause positive samples urine tests. Ampicillin is suspect. Amoxicillin has caused positives for cocaine.

Diazepam tests positive for PCP as well as the ingredient in some cough medicines, Dextromethorophan.

Riboflavin - Vitamin B2 can test positive for THC.

Your own enzymes. A small fraction of the population excrete large amounts of certain enzymes in their urine which can produce a positive drug test. Dr. John Morgan of the Dept. of Pharmacology of New York City University writes: "A false positive test could occur in some individuals because they excrete unusually large amounts of endogenons lysozyme or malate dehydrogenase." Dr. Morgan judges that natural enzyme interference may run as high as 10% of positive samples.

Black Skin. This is not a joke! Those of African origin, certain Orientals, or pacific Islanders might test positive for marijuana. Dr. James Woodford, a toxicologist associated with Emory University labs hypothesized the pigment melanin which protects the skin from the sun, approximates the molecular structure of the THC metabolite to cross react on the marijuana urine test. Dark skinned Caucasians such as those from the subcontinent of India could also read positive on marijuana tests. The body eliminates some melanin in a dark person's urine sample.

Passive marijuana inhalation. This is downplayed by every FFD Program manager and MRO I have ever met. They say that this can't happen, but they are lying. It can and does. If you attend a rock concert or ride in a car where marijuana is smoked nearby, even if you do not partake, the second hand marijuana that you might inhale may give your test a positive result for several days.

Drug testing is accurate enough for police officers, health care professionals, pilots, daycare workers, and many other professional groups but not for the high and mighty teacher???

You obviously missed the point of my first post. I made no mention of drug testing for teachers. What I did write was that drug testing is a farce. The profession of the person being tested is irrelevant. You wrote, “Drug testing is accurate enough for police officers, health care professionals, pilots, daycare workers, and many other professional groups“. And that is where you are grossly mistaken. Drug testing as it is performed now is not accurate for ANYONE.

The purpose of Fitness for Duty (FFD) programs, and their associated drug testing is to detect persons using illegal drugs. The same purpose applies to pre-employment drug screening. Unfortunately, both pre-employment screening and FFD programs fail miserably in achieving that goal. Due to the well-documented INACCURACY of drug testing in identifying only illegally used drugs (because of significant false-positive rates), identification of a real drug abuser is a crapshoot at best. The complete lack of any correlation between the incredibly low threshold levels of detection for metabolites, and any level of diminished physical or mental ability that may present in an individual with a detectable metabolite level renders the testing useless in determining if an individual is fit for duty.

Think of a blood alcohol test. This type of test measures the amount of the actual drug (ethanol) in a person’s bloodstream. Years of testing and observation of persons under the influence of alcohol has resulted in an established and well-accepted limit (concentration) of 0.10 as the point at which a person is suffering from diminished physical or mental ability. A direct correlation exists between the amount of the alcohol in a person, and their unfitness for duty. Metabolite testing does not measure the concentration any drug in someone’s body. It only measures the concentration of compounds that MAY result from the breakdown of a specific drug of interest, or a host of other potential substances and/or medical conditions that are not of interest. Additionally, there are no widely accepted concentration levels for most drugs of concern in testing programs, that are know to be associated with quantifiable decreases in a person’s physical or mental ability, like there is for alcohol. Even if those concentration levels were known, it would be necessary to measure the actual levels of the drug in a person’s system, NOT the metabolites. It is extremely important to note that as blood drug concentrations drop, metabolite levels rise. But that makes a lot of sense when you think about it. You body is chemically breaking down the drugs, and the levels of breakdown products begin to accumulate in you hair, saliva and urine. The end result is that metabolite levels are often at their highest long after the desirable (and intoxicating) affects of a drug have worn off. So the person who tests positive, even if they actually had used illegal drugs, will most likely be completely fit for duty at the time of the test.

It should now be abundantly clear to anyone who has read both of my posts, that drug testing is inaccurate, unreliable and a complete failure in its intended purpose. This now begs the question, “Is there a way to determine if a person is using illegal drugs, and are they in fact unfit for duty?” The answer is yes, but with caveats.

First, the medical community must establish accurate blood-drug concentrations and corresponding levels of diminished capacity, for all drugs of concern. Second metabolite testing for drugs must be outlawed, and blood sample testing for the drugs of concern instituted. Third, one national standard for sampling, analysis, confirmatory analysis, post testing evaluation (actual determination of a positive result), retention of duplicate samples and appeal must be adopted and enforced. Fourth, all persons subject to drug testing must be provided with a list of substances and medical conditions that may cause a positive result (yes, this can even happen when testing for the actual drug – i.e. diabetics can fail breathalyzers), BEFORE being tested. Fifth, only federally certified and licensed facilities, unaffiliated with the organization requesting the test, shall be permitted to collect drug test specimens. Sixth, only a second federally certified and licensed facility, unaffiliated with the first facility and the organization requesting the test, shall be permitted to analyze the specimens. Seventh, only a third federally certified and licensed facility, unaffiliated with either of the first two facilities and the organization requesting the test, shall be permitted to perform confirmatory analysis. Eight, duplicate samples shall only be maintained by a federally certified and licensed facility, unaffiliated with any other facility involved in the sampling or testing processes and the organization requesting the test. Ninth, only specially trained and qualified licensed physicians who are not in the employ or in any way affiliated with the organization requesting the test or any of the facilities who performed any of the collection, analyses or duplicate sample retention, shall be permitted to perform the post testing evaluation. Finally, all persons subject to drug testing must have the ability to challenge a positive result in a court of law, without retribution, and be provided the same rights and protections as any citizen of this country would be entitled to in a criminal or civil proceeding.

Before anybody asks, I am not now, nor have I ever been a teacher. No one in my immediate family is a teacher. I was in an FFD program for ten years and never failed a drug test.

Test the teachers for drugs so our kids are safe. If a teacher is using drugs they should not be working with kids. there should be no argument there. sounds like a lot of teachers are afraid of losing their jobs if this happens....that' so sad.

The last poster must be illiterate. FFD manager's posts were an amazing eye opener. I had to take drug test to get a job 5 years ago. I only wish I knew then what I know now. I would have told them to take a hike. They were a crappy company to work for anyway. Thanks FFD manager! You opened my eyes.

That is some very interesting info that FFD posted, but a drug test acts as a deterent to those who use drugs. if someone knows they have to take random drug tests or an entry level drug test they will either stop using drugs or say forget it and not apply. that is a very important part of drug testing.
A Polygraph test is another tool the teachers can use to weed out drug users. And before you say anything, polygraphs are not 100% accurate, but they will scare some people off. The kind of people who are scared of drugs tests and polygraphs are usually the ones who have something to hide.
All the good teachers and teacher hopefuls have nothing to worry about if they have to take a drug or poly. It's the bad ones that are nervous. Just like any job there are always going to be bad apples. This will help get rid of some of those bad apples and help the public in the long run.
Teachers are great and very important people, but there are too many who still use drugs... let's get rid of the losers who make the other hard working teachers look bad.

:evil:

but there are too many who still use drugs... let's get rid of the losers who make the other hard working teachers look bad.

That is EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE. Where do you get your "statistics" from?

[Doobie Gillis]

but there are too many who still use drugs... let's get rid of the losers who make the other hard working teachers look bad.

That is EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE. Where do you get your "statistics" from?

I think the guy is high on drugs! HE MUST BE A TEACHER. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT TEACHERS ON THEIR PREP PERIOD SIT AROUND AND SMOKE DOPE. How else can they cope?

when we're done with the druggies, let's have a go at the alkies...
then the smokers
then how about the fornicators
why stop there?
Let's get rid of everybody who's not a born-again Christian

but there are too many who still use drugs... let's get rid of the losers who make the other hard working teachers look bad.

That is EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE. Where do you get your "statistics" from?

I think the guy is high on drugs! HE MUST BE A TEACHER. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT TEACHERS ON THEIR PREP PERIOD SIT AROUND AND SMOKE DOPE. How else can they cope?


Obviously there are no statistics and you are NOT a teacher (Thank God!). I am not high on drugs, I am a teacher (and proud of it!), and I cope by doing my job to educate our children so the world doesn't end up with more morons like YOU :P Have a GREAT DAY!!!

And just who is going to pay for the testing, the legal fees, and the counseling???

[Doobie Gillis]

Obviously there are no statistics and you are NOT a teacher (Thank God!). I am not high on drugs, I am a teacher (and proud of it!), and I cope by doing my job to educate our children so the world doesn't end up with more morons like YOU :P Have a GREAT DAY!!![/quote]

I was being sarcastic. I am a teacher and no one I know takes drugs or gets high but I have heard stories about parents getting high with their kids or mothers supplying pot to the kids at parties! Teachers are always to blame.

[Blazer0011]

Obviously there are no statistics and you are NOT a teacher (Thank God!). I am not high on drugs, I am a teacher (and proud of it!), and I cope by doing my job to educate our children so the world doesn't end up with more morons like YOU :P Have a GREAT DAY!!!

I was being sarcastic. I am a teacher and no one I know takes drugs or gets high but I have heard stories about parents getting high with their kids or mothers supplying pot to the kids at parties! Teachers are always to blame.[/quote]

Amen

[Fabulouszshorty]

I think teachers should be drug tested. For crying out load they are with our most precious resource...