Urine, Hair, and Oral Fluid Drug Testing: A Q&A Approach to Drug Testing Methods

The Current Consulting Group was recently invited to a symposium at the United Nations in New York City on the state of drug testing in Brazil. Specifically, leaders from that country discussed how they have combatted substance abuse in the transportation industry using hair testing. Some even suggested that the effectiveness of that program would be the catalyst for a nation-wide driver hair testing program. Instead of breathalyzers and oral swabs, could you imagine the officer taking a snippet of someone’s hair for a roadside hair test? While that may seem a little harder to believe, the facts are a bit more grounded. While urine testing has dominated the drug testing market in the United States since the 1980’s, other countries have found alternative forms of drug testing to be very effective. Many employers in the United States have caught on to the benefits of combining urine, hair and oral fluid drug testing, with 14 percent of employers in 2017 using all three methods.