Well if the perfect drug existed which allowed the user to be free of any residual or physiological effects after use, then there may be some cause for argument.
But with the hysteria that comes from some quarters, the manifest is not only fear of a loss of production (perhaps the only
real concern) but the undeniable reality that the wellbeing of other workers is at stake. Health and Safety regulations will get us all in the end
Of course most responsible drug users would argue that a pill on Friday night with all the appropriate supplements, a good restful day on Saturday and an early night Sunday leaves you fresh as a bell. Fair enough. But not everyone thinks like this, and it only takes one half asleep, strung out worker to potentially put another's life in danger.
So, health authorities and particularly insurance companies lay down the rules. A mostly conservative board of directors gives it the big tick and policy is implemented (whenever insurance comes into it there is little or no choice anyway). To do otherwise i.e. no workplace testing, for many companies would be corporate suicide.
Sure its a dirty form of forced compliance, open to exploitation and undoubtedly a cause of many cases of unfounded dismissal. I've often thought about a fair compromise, say only requesting a test if your work etc. has deteriorated and there is no other explanation that you the worker can offer to explain his/her actions.
That way, the worker could at least decline and leave graciously without a smear record etc.
But that seemingly ideal solution is fraught with problems. All it would take is for one person to be injured because of the actions of someone with drugs in their system (even if this played no part in the accident) and the system and the company would go down the share market tube.
One thing that's almost certain is that the world is destined to only get tougher with regulations. What's allowed for sale on the shelf today, just like the present rights of workers and workplace H&S standards, will be very different tomorrow.
In tomorrows Brave New brazilian World, the definition of the savage will be not that unlike the character Huxley's book portrayed. Except perhaps that many "savages" will live within the walls of the city. To work, to attend, to participate, to play, even to buy will require a consistent behavior standard that distinguishes modern society from the genetically inferior [sic] social dissidents
Improvements in analysis techniques will impact immensely on what becomes standard policy. earlier this year at an expo of the analytical world, a French company unveiled a new laser induced fluorescence detector, capable of measuring some substances down to a level of 10E-12M!!! Thats 0.000000000001 of a mole!!!
Exihibitor Highlights
Picometrics will display its ZETALIF series of laser-induced fluorescence detectors for HPLC and capillary electrophoresis, including an LIF detector built on a platform to which additional features can be added. The detectors reportedly provide excellent sensitivity for compounds with native fluorescence as well as derivatives (a 100- to 1000- fold increment in sensitivity is typically observed relative to conventional fluorescence). LIF provides nanomolar to picomolar limits of detection and amol to zmol limits of quantification using a broad range of lasers from 266 nm to 780 nm for excitation.
It has been said the next generation of equipment will be able to detect a few molecules (<zmol) of a substance in the body!!
If you care to do the maths, and looking at the half life of the most persistent MDMA
metabolite of ~32 hours (ref: Erowid), current amol detection limits mean that for a single dose of MDMA or 100mg, taken irregularly, and assuming metabolism is average, it will take approximately 1 month to be clean.
Of course many variables are involved here and this may vary quite a bit between individuals, but you can get the general picture.
If you've ever looked at first order rates of metabolism (which is far from the complete picture of elimination rates etc. but gives an idea) you will realise that theroetically there will be traces of things - single molecules - that always remain. It is no exaggeration to say that a typical workplace drug test of the future may produce a result that says something like " Level of hydroxylated amphetamine metabolite indicates bio-accumulation date (when you took the drug) as X number of years ago".
I'll leave you with these sobering words from a respected analytical bee; GC_MS, written late 2002
Let's also have a look at the nearby future. I've been to a presentation last week where company X gave some information about a new device they will launch at PittCon 2003: an LC/MS with sensitivity that can go as far as the amol range. That is euhm... sensitive . I can go into the fmol range now without to many problems, but amol, holy shit. In 2010, they can bust your ass because you have 3 MDMA molecules in your blood
