They're at it again! Is the White House addicted to lying? Every time I look at anything the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) puts out, the blatant lies and stupidity make my head spin!
This week's nonsense, distortion, confusion, and propaganda comes from what they call their "blog", which is a one-way propaganda push page (where all "comments" disappear into a black hole):
Today, John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy (President Bush's "Drug Czar"), commented on the release of Quest Diagnostics' Drug Testing Index (DTI). Since 1988, drug testing positivity rates have fallen by 72 percent, from 13.6 percent in 1988 to 3.8 percent in 2006, a new low for drug use among the combined U.S. workforce
Well that's good news. I certainly don't condone people showing up for work high. Although the ONDCP release doesn't link to the data cited in the article (Hmmmm....), I was so impressed by that success that I wanted to see the real numbers myself.
Here's what I found:
For those of you familiar with the ONDCP's work, this won't come as a surprise, but according to Quest Diagnostics, author of the study:
"Now we are seeing larger increases in amphetamines use among safety-sensitive workers. At the same time, marijuana drug-test positives are declining among all workers, causing an overall decline in drug-test positivity. This decrease may be a result of lower marijuana use among these workers; however, it may also be the result of the increased use of devices designed to subvert the drug testing process
Ooops!!!
The important fact to keep in mind is that THC is fat-soluble, which means it can be detected in the body up to 30 days after use. Other drugs including cocaine, amphetamines, methadone, and opiates metabolize in as little as one day, or as long as four days with chronic use. This means a marijuana "positive" may only indicate that someone smoked within the last few weeks. Positives for other drugs provide an indication that the drugs were consumed during the past 24 hours, and that the individual is likely currently under the effect of these drugs.
I commented in an earlier diary about how ONDCP propaganda and drug war policies were turning students from marijuana to prescription drugs including morphine derivatives. Now it appears to be having the same effect on our workers. While they are giving up recreational marijuana during off hours (or fooling the tests), they are more likely to be under the influence of hard drugs during work hours!
Here are the underlying numbers from the study quoted by the feds:
Positivity Rates by Drug Category
(For General U.S. Workforce, as a Percentage of All Such Tests)
(More than 3.0 million tests from January to June 2005)
Drug %Change since 2001
Amphetamines +72%
Cocaine +3%
Marijuana -16%
Methadone +77%
Opiates +10%
Yikes! If this is true, we are looking at a huge increase in the number of people impaired by hard drugs in the workplace! But our government says:
"The Drug Testing Index's findings further amplify the substance abuse success story of the past five years—we are effectively pushing back against illegal drug use. With workplace positivity rates at their lowest levels since 1988, two things are clear: drug testing can effectively deter drug use, and our efforts to eliminate domestic meth labs are having a significant impact."
Whoaaa - Huh?? With logic that specious, who needs drugs? We're fooling ourselves, folks. The war on drugs has done nothing to deter drug use, it is only shifting use away from detectable, organic drugs like marijuana and mushrooms to less detectable but more dangerous drugs, particularly pharmaceuticals such as amphetamines, methadone, and oxycontin.
Is it any wonder the pharma companies are the main financial supporters of the drug war lobby? It's time to call bullshit on the "War on Drugs" scam, and come up with policies that actually minimize the damage from drug use and abuse.