Three years after recreational marijuana was legalized in California, it still casts a cloud over most job applicants.

Many employers in the state still require drug screening as a prerequisite for hiring someone, experts in the hiring field say. And while recreational use and possession are allowed for people 21 and older, failing a drug test can still prompt an employer to toss a resume into the reject pile.

But with 11 states now legalizing recreational marijuana use, there are new perspectives that might be giving workers something of a break.

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In an effort to discourage drug use and vaping, a Catholic high school in Ohio has announced plans to begin testing its students for drugs and nicotine, joining what education professionals are calling a growing trend.

Administrators at Stephen T. Badin High School in Hamilton, Ohio, said in a letter to parents this week that the drug-testing program, which they said had been shaped over the course of two years with help from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, would go into effect in January.

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The Trump administration is considering a plan that would allow states to require certain food stamp recipients to undergo drug testing, handing a win to conservatives who've long sought ways to curb the safety net program.

The proposal under review would be narrowly targeted, applying mostly to people who are able-bodied, without dependents and applying for some specialized jobs, according to an administration official briefed on the plan. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said roughly 5 percent of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could be affected.

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Employers are struggling to hire workers in tightening U.S. job market. Marijuana is now legal in nine states and Washington, D.C., meaning more than one in five American adults can eat, drink, smoke or vape as they please. The result is the slow decline of pre-employment drug tests, which for decades had been a requirement for new recruits in industries ranging from manufacturing to finance.

As of the beginning of 2018, Excellence Health Inc., a Las Vegas-based health care company with around 6,000 employees, no longer drug tests people coming to work for the pharmaceutical side of the business. The company stopped testing for marijuana two years ago. "We don't care what people do in their free time," said Liam Meyer, a company spokesperson. "We want to help these people, instead of saying: 'Hey, you can't work for us because you used a substance,'" he added. The company also added a hotline for any workers who might be struggling with drug use.

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Alberta's supervised consumption sites should be permitted to offer drug testing to help users learn what dangers might be lurking in their illicit narcotics, the province's opioid commission recommended Friday.

While questions persist about the effectiveness of fentanyl-sensing strips and other testing devices, providing insight to users on what they plan to inject or ingest will undoubtedly save lives, commission leaders said.

"Anytime you can give people a bit more understanding than absolutely none about what's in their drugs, I think that's a positive," Elaine Hyshka, co-chair of the Minister's Opioid Emergency Response Commission, told a news conference downtown.

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The country's biggest airlines, train and trucking firms, construction companies and transit authorities are urging the government to allow them to conduct mandatory drug tests for key members of their work forces.

The issue of testing is currently in front of the Senate, where two bills are being studied: C-45 to legalize cannabis by the summer, and C-46 to make it easier for law-enforcement authorities to crack down on impaired driving.

Ottawa wants C-46 to be adopted before the prohibition on cannabis is lifted to deal with the potential consequences of increased consumption. Among other things, the legislation will create new drug-impaired driving offences and make it easier for police to conduct random roadside tests for alcohol.

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Chief's comments come after confirmation that constable died from fentanyl overdose

Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders says he's actively looking at drug testing for officers in the wake of a constable's fentanyl overdose death this year.

"I don't want to lose any officers to anything, especially drugs of any kind and if there are things that we can do to reduce that, then I'm very interested in that," Saunders said Tuesday during a year-end interview.

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Suncor faces "profound problems" with drugs and alcohol at its oilsands operations, including accidents, injuries and death, according to documents filed to support the company's push for increased testing.

The energy giant wants to start random drug and alcohol testing Friday in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB), more than five years after Unifor local 707A won an injunction putting the proposed program on hold until an arbitration board's decision.

Although the board sided with the union, a judge later overturned the ruling, a verdict upheld in September by the Alberta Court of Appeal, which ordered a new arbitration hearing. Unifor, which is seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, will ask for another injunction Thursday, but Suncor argues in court documents there has been 73 safety incidents in the last four years where workers tested positive for drugs or alcohol. These include a driver whose idling, unattended truck rolled into a gas oil unit; a forklift operator lifting a 4,500-kg pipe that rolled to the ground; and a dozer driver whose machine tipped over, environment, health and safety vice-president Mike Agnew states in an affidavit.

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Province widens availability of device for detecting the presence of fentanyl; medical health officer says lives will be saved

British Columbia has expanded a program allowing people to check their street drugs for fentanyl before using, becoming the first jurisdiction in Canada to facilitate the experimental testing on a wide scale.

Health officials have also purchased a device that detects both the presence and quantities of deadly adulterants and can provide a more detailed analysis of not just fentanyl, but other chemically similar drugs being cut into the local supply.

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is reviving a fight over drug testing that could have major implications in Georgia.

The Pooler Republican introduced a bill in the House of Representatives on Thursday that would let states screen unemployment insurance applicants for drug use if they so choose.

"Unemployment Insurance recipients should be drug-free and ready to reenter the workforce and my legislation works to make that happen," Carter said in a statement.

Under Carter's legislation, an applicant would be denied unemployment benefits for 30 days if they test positive for drug use. A second positive test would bar people from receiving the federal perk for the rest of the year.

[end]

'MOLLY'

Scientists, public health experts and volunteers working with them have started to show up at music festivals, concerts, raves and other public gatherings where illicit drugs are frequently used. Equipped with special chemical testing kits, they help attendees test pills and powder for purity in real time so people can make better informed decisions about whether to take them.

The practice - more common in Europe than in the United States - is controversial, and the debate has been similar to the early days of needle-exchange programs in the 1980s. Proponents argue harm reduction. They say people are more likely to reject taking drugs to get high if the substances do not contain what they think they do, which reduces the risk of overdose and other harmful effects. Critics say such programs implicitly encourage the use of illegal drugs.

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As he prepares to run for a third term, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, ever the devotee of low-road, right-wing politicking, is hoping the Trump administration will allow his state to be the first in the nation to mandate the drug screening of childless individuals who apply for Medicaid help.

"It borders on immoral," Lena Taylor, a Democratic state senator, warned, accusing Mr. Walker of indulging in a "meaningless contest to see how cruel and discriminatory we can be to the poor."

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CEO says results 'concerning' but justify transit agency's push for substance abuse checks

Well that didn't take long.

Two TTC employees have been suspended for being impaired on the job after they both failed tests on the first day of the transit agency's new random drug and alcohol testing program.

The first employee given a breathalyzer that morning blew over the limit, according to agency spokesperson Brad Ross. The employee was found to have a blood alcohol level of more than .04 per cent, which the TTC considers impaired.

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Testing to see who's too stoned to drive is a cumbersome system that results in few convictions, says a law professor who has studied cannabis impairment.

The federal Liberals have tabled legislation to legalize marijuana while having severe penalties for drug-impaired driving. But Robert Solomon of Western University says that enforcement of laws involving pot and driving can be difficult.

First, forget about a handy roadside breath test like the test for alcohol, he advises.

"There is some preliminary research indicating that a breath test can be developed for cannabis. It's slow, expensive and not yet reliable," he said. "So we're a long way from a breath test for cannabis ... (despite) some promoters out there who have been touting miraculous, easy, cheap" breath tests.

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Despite a completely clean campus always being the goal, top brass at Royal Military College are pleased with the results of a blind drug test conducted in mid-October that weren't exactly perfect.

"Having now tangible, fact-based information is really great. It gives us a good assessment of the current situation," Brig.-Gen. Sean Friday, commandant of RMC, told the Whig-Standard on Wednesday. "The whole idea of a blind drug test is so that we can get actual information to see if our [Canadian Armed Forces] drug control program at large is succeeding or not."

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Police forces in Canada testing out devices over February

Next time you come across a police checkpoint in Halifax, you might be asked to help test a roadside drug-screening device.

Halifax Regional Police (HRP) began a new Public Safety Canada pilot project a week and half ago, and have until the end of February to collect 100 saliva samples from anyone who'd like to anonymously volunteer for the testing in a regular traffic stop.

"This is for us. It's not about any of the public, it's about how user-friendly are these devices for the police at roadside," Const. Kristine Fraser of the HRP traffic unit said Thursday. "If you say 'um, no,' (it's) 'okay, thank you for your time,' and you drive away.'"

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A recommendation by state Rep. Joel Kleefisch would have parents request their high school students be tested for illegal drugs.

Students drive out of the parking lot at the end of the school day at De Pere High School on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. Students who have parking permits at the school are subjected to random drug testing throughout the school year.(Photo: Adam Wesley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wi)

GREEN BAY - Rep. Joel Kleefisch had a ready response for lawmakers and school administrators who were quick to speak out against a proposal late last year for statewide random drug testing in high schools.

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Mandatory drug testing of students at a two-year technical college in Linn, Mo., has been banned by a federal appeals court.

The court has reinstated the ban on mandatory drug testing for most students at the State Technical College of Missouri. The decision was the latest ruling in a 5-year-old lawsuit.

The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Associated Press reported that by a 9-2 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overturned an earlier decision by a three-judge panel of the court.

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