Drug Testing PSA!
If you are ever given a drug test for work/school/et cetera, be sure to keep your prescription bottle from the time of the test until after you get the all clear from the test provider! In hindsight this seems like common sense, but I made this mistake and feel my experience may save others some time in the future.
My employer did random drug testing the second week of November. I disclosed at the time of testing that I am prescribed Adderall and was not given any further instructions. Today I was notified that I failed and needed to submit a photo of my prescription bottle by the end of business today or I would be terminated. Not my current bottle, but the bottle dated for the time of testing - A bottle that was thrown out 3 days after the test. I had to leave work, go to my pharmacy and get an official copy of my prescription history signed by my pharmacist and hope that was enough, and thankfully it was. Not the end of the world, but very inconvenient and a headache that could have been avoided by keeping that bottle (or at least photographing it before throwing it away!) So if you ever find yourself in my position, don’t make my mistake!
Edit: It was actually a 3 day window to submit the photo to the 3rd party test provider, but I was out sick days 1 and 2. So I was only notified day 3 and therefore had until the end of the day to submit it. I sent emails to both HR and the 3rd party that processed the test to suggest they at a minimum disclose how they verify prescriptions at the time of testing and that the 3 days shouldn’t start until after the employee is notified.
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Follow up PSA: if you take Wellbutrin/bupropione, it can trigger a false positive for amphetamines, even if you’re not taking one.
Did not know this.
When you provide the prescription 3 weeks later, then they know you have ADHD.
Fuck Random drug tests. Glad I live in a civilized place where that is a violation of privacy.
Where is that? Because most civilized places I know of still have those in whatever is deemed a high risk occupation. Usually anyone working with heavy machinery.
Canada. We typically have pre-employment and incident level drug testing in safety sensitive roles. There are cut outs to the rights in this regard tho.
I already suspected you were replying to someone in Canada because I've never hear of drug testing at work at all anywhere but the USA. I don't know a single person who has had to do that outside of athletes at sports events, and I've worked in multiple jobs with heavy machinery before.
It's wild to live under that much surveillance, especially when most of the time it's just some office job
When I "failed" my drug test, for one, my company HR specifically asked me not to give them any details (after I had already volunteered the info that it was due to a prescription. I wish I hadn't, because that specific HR employee clearly got it in her head that I'm definitely a drug abuser and forever afterwards treated me differently. They had just called to tell me that my results hadn't come back yet, so I needed to not go in to work until they had passing results.
The drug test was handled 3rd party, that company called me and said that I had failed due to blah blah. Asked if there was any reason for me to dispute the results, I said it was due to a prescription. Gal on the phone says, "Honestly, we could tell that was probably the case, given the amount in your system. We just need your doctor's phone number to verify your prescription and then your test will be reported to your employer as passing, once we get that verification"
Yea, when ever I had to take a drug test it was always the people at the lab that would call me and tell me I failed and I would just give them my prescription number on my bottle and they would just tell the company I pass.
I did actually tell my employer that I was taking adderall and I actually got treated a little better but I think that's more because it was a German based company so they had slightly different regulations for stuff like this. We even got 4 extra days off we could take throughout the year because in Germany they have 10 mandatory days off they take, but in the US its only 6.
Why are they not using an independent, 3rd party testing firm that has their own MRO that can handle this and protect employee confidentiality? The only thing your employer should know is that you passed. Not that you passed and that you're taking adderall and have ADHD.
Photograph EVERY ANGLE, not just the front.
If you are in the US, I would have reminded them that prescription drug discrimination is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that you need additional time to produce a copy of the prescription. Additionally, if they require you to do this during work hours it should be paid time.
This might be more easily resolved by asking your doctor to fax or email a copy of the prescription to your employer/tester with your authorization.
You got this solved, but for others. The pharmacy can provide you the info you need.
Or request the testers contact your pharmacy directly as a photo is not even valid means anymore ( it's too easy to fake )
When I had to get drug tested for work, the lab processing it called and asked if I had a prescription and then asked for the pharmacy/prescription info. They then confirmed everything with the pharmacy themselves, and my job was given a negative test result since it was cleared. I'm very upfront with work about being on Adderall, but from what I understand, they should not have disclosed that to your employer until they checked with you first. That could be considered a HIPPA violation, I think.
There was a research paper int he 90s which showed drug testing helped improve overall performance at a company. It turns out the study was funded by a pharmaceutical company that makes drug testing kits and the research paper was revoked.
But it doesn't stop HR departments from referencing the study when you ask them what advantage is there to the business in drug testing. I refused a job that did drug testing, but they could not tell me why they did drug testing.
Except for employment that involves operating machinery, drug testing is useless.
If my employer told me I had until the END OF THE DAY to prove a medical condition…maybe I would be able to, maybe not, but either way, I’m quiet quitting and looking for another job. That’s insane.
Thanks for heads up.
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I don’t disagree! Had things turned out differently I would have definitely spoken to a lawyer about it. It turns out that it was actually a 3 day window to submit the photo to the test provider, but day 1 and 2 fell while I was out sick and therefore wasn’t told until day 3. I did, however give feedback to both my employer and the 3rd party that did the test letting them know that at a minimum they should disclose how prescriptions are verified at the time of testing and that the 3 days shouldn’t start until the employee is notified.
The drug testing stuff is always so ridiculous. One time, I tried to be proactive and submit my prescription info before the test results came back, because I knew they would ask for them on some stupid short timeline, but they told me I had to wait until the test came back positive before I could give them any proof of the prescription. Like, why? Whats the point of that?
I would follow up with them, HR is asking for a lawsuit. If they had fired you it probably would have been a wrongful termination case. Might’ve even been discrimination since i believe ADHD is a disability technically.
It's also crazy that they want a picture of the bottle. I'm not sending people I don't trust a photo that might let them fill a prescription under my name. I scratch the labels off my med bottles before I toss them out for exactly that reason. If they want to confirm my prescription, give me a release to sign and they can call my doctor.
You’d need a lot more than a picture of an empty bottle to fill an Adderall prescription under someone else’s name
ya that’s dumb as shit
here give me proof you’re prescribed a wheelchair by the end of the day as needed for use in the workplace or you’re fired
That’s honestly such a good PSA. So many people would never think to keep that exact bottle. Glad the pharmacy printout saved you, but wow what a stressful way to learn the lesson.
You throw away your prescription bottles? I'm pretty sure mine just float around my bathroom cabinet for all eternity.
They usually shouldn’t be screening for prescription stimulants unless you’re in a field where you can’t take them such as pilots.
I believe Adderall will simply pop positive for "amphetamines." Drug tests dont distinguish between prescription medications and illicit drugs. Sudafed and several antidepressants can also cause a false positive for amphetamines.
That has never made sense to me. It's basically saying "you can't work this job if you have ADHD", when a lot of people with ADHD specifically go into difficult fields because other jobs are less engaging.
Just take a picture of the bottle/info on it whenever you get a new one. Then you have the pic if you need it and aren’t hoarding old bottles.
Why would a workplace do drug testing…? That’s backwards as hell
Backwards as it may be, lots of workplaces do mandatory drug screening. It’s more prevalent in industries where workers being on illicit drugs while they work would be a major safety issue.
In Canada they can do drug testing for safety sensitive positions. They can have pre employment testing, post incident testing, or even random testing at certain industrial jobs 😬
many do. Even more have it written in the hiring paperwork that they have the right to. When I got hurt at a dangerously understaffed restaurant rushing up the basement stairs with a 50lb bucket of sauce they drug tested me hoping i’d fail so they could fire me and refuse my workers comp claim (one PT session, two days off 🙄) I passed, but it was totally buried in the paperwork I had done when i was hired years before that they could/would drug test me. if I got hurt. Later I served on a jury for trial between a large grocery chain and a guy who had drugs in his system and had a horrific accident in the deli resulting in the traumatic loss of BOTH OF HIS HANDS on his first day of work. They alleged that even though the boss made him use the machine without anyone training him how, they owed him nothing because he had something in his system.