Pubdate: Fri, 02 Jun 2006
Source: Royal Gazette, The (Bermuda)
Copyright: 2006 The Royal Gazette Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.theroyalgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2103
Author: Heather Wood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)

HAIR WE GO . . . A BETTER FORM OF DRUG TESTING

A MORE reliable form of drug testing which analyses  hair instead of 
urine or saliva was introduced to  Bermuda at a public forum yesterday.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) partnered with the  Psychemedics 
Corporation, inventors of the patented  method, to establish the practice here.

Its presence was welcomed by Health Minister Patrice  Minors at a 
workshop at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.  The Minister lauded its 
potential as a tool in  improving the health of the community.

"Drugs are an increasing menace in our homes. They can  devastate our 
families and tear at the fabric of all  that we hold dear to us. As 
the Minister of Health &  Family Services I am cognisant of the 
impact that  substance abuse has on our client base and I salute 
any  entity willing to stand up and be counted in the fight  to 
combat drug use in Bermuda."

The Psychemedics Corporation is the world's largest  patented 
provider of hair testing for drug abuse. The  company was established 
16 years ago and began offering  drug testing services in 1987.

"(Drug abuse) affects -- directly or indirectly -- all  of us," said 
Raymond C. Kubacki, Jr., the company's  president and chief executive officer.

"In the workplace, productivity suffers, quality  control is affected 
and workers' safety is jeopardised.  In families, it robs our 
children of their youth,  vitality, health and future.

"Our technology enables us to offer a personal drug  history over a 
period of several months. Psychemedics'  hair analysis has 
consistently proven to be more  effective than urinalysis and other 
methods in  correctly identifying drug abusers.

"In fact, when hair and urine results were compared 
in  'side-by-side' evaluation, five to ten times as many  drug 
abusers were accurately identified with the  Psychemedics hair test."

He explained that Psychemedics' test detects drug abuse  for the 
previous 90 days while urinalysis will only  detect a maximum of 
three days prior.

"Psychemedics' significantly longer testing window  results in 
superior detection rates over urinalysis. In  addition, the 
collection of a hair sample is easier and  far less embarrassing than 
a urine sample." The vast  difference in results was what led the BHB 
to partner  with the American firm.

"We are excited about offering this vital service as  one step in 
combating substance abuse on our island,"  BHB director of Human 
Resources Scott Pearman said.

"Hair follicle testing is an excellent tool for  assessing drug use. 
It must also be followed up with  prevention education programmes, 
rehabilitative  services and community support networks."

Mrs. Minors agreed on the important role the testing  will eventually 
play, largely because of the  destruction drugs have caused to so 
many families here.

"Drugs are a destructive, debilitating and detrimental  force in our 
community," she said. "Drugs disable and  destroy the physical 
strength and metal stability of  our society. They spawn social and 
communal ills and  render untold damage each day.

"Sadly, our health care system has to absorb too much  of the burden 
from illegal drug use. Moreover, this is  something which all of us 
end up paying for."

Employers, she continued, had a "vested responsibility  and interest 
to combat the use and abuse of drugs in  our society "as it was in 
the workforce where we see  the results of abuse, largely in the form 
of "diminished productivity and absenteeism".

"The Psychemedics Corporation's patented hair analysis  method gives 
employers a powerful tool in their  arsenal. This will go a long way 
to discourage  employees from entering the workplace with the 
residual evidence of drug use and to encourage others to stay  clean.

"In this way, we can arrest the diminished productivity  that drug 
use is causing in our workplaces and have  more productive and 
energised employees.

"I wish to encourage all employees to establish, if you  have not 
already done so, drug policies and employee  assistance programmes 
whose first priority it is to  educate and deter employees from using 
drugs in the  first instance. Secondly, it is my hope that those who 
require additional help can be directed to  rehabilitative resources."

The workshop for a Drug-Free Workplace continues at the  Fairmont 
Hamilton Princess today between 8.30 a.m. and  11.30 a.m. 
Representatives from the Psychemedics  Corporation will be on hand.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman