lil angel15
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Miners turn to internet to beat tests
19.02.2007
MINE workers are using masking agents obtained on the internet and dodgy urine samples to try to beat testing at hinterland coal mines, according to a man who failed a drug test last week.
Products offered over the web, such as Urinade, and carrying a clean urine sample onto mine sites in a condom secreted in underpants are among the tactics being used to get around the testing process.
The 30-year-old, who tested positive for ecstasy, said he thought he "had the system beat".
He outlined some of the methods being used to beat drug testing and warned mine workers that trying to beat the system was not worth it.
"A mate told me you could get someone who was clean to urinate into a specimen jar or condom.
"You took that sample hidden in your jocks and transferred it to the mines’ jar when asked to provide a sample," he said. "There are also websites offering products, including Urinade, which will substitute for the real thing," the man said he had been told.
The man said he had taken one tablet of ecstasy at 9pm on a Saturday night and tested positive at 7.30 on the following Tuesday morning.
"I thought the ecstasy would have been out of my bloodstream because mates had told me it would be gone.
"I almost lost an $80,000 a year job, lost the respect of my workmates and could have put lives at risk," he said.
How effective most methods of beating drug tests are remains doubtful according to the man who "wrote the book on drug testing in the workplace" Gary Sorensen, of Mackay's Tropical Investigations.
Mr Sorensen said he buys products offered on the net and then revels how ineffective they are.
"People will try anything to escape detection. And there are plenty of cowboys out there trying to fool people," he said.
"They are helped in some ways because there are differing standards and tests being applied across industries.
"But the tests will get tougher and tighter because mandatory, uniform standards are on the way," he said.
Mr Sorensen, who developed programs and testing standards for a variety of industries, uses saliva swabs, urine samples and the breathalyser to detect drugs such as marijuana, speed, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin and alcohol.
The young man, who now faces counselling after failing the test over ecstasy, has given an undertaking to stop taking illegal drugs.
"It's a wake-up call for me, part of growing up," he said.
He said he had been a casual user of drugs, taking about 10 ecstasy tablets a year.
The Daily Mercury