GAO Suggests National Drug Testing Information Database for Drivers

The United States Government Accountability Office has done a report on problems with the Motor Carrier Drug Testing Program and suggested changes-including a national database. Here are the main problems the GAO found according to their report:

• An unknown number of commercial drivers who use illegal drugs are not part of a drug testing program. Statistics from compliance reviews indicate that over 9 percent of these reviews conducted between 2001 and 2007 found that carriers have no drug testing program at all, meaning that many drivers are not subject to a drug testing program.
• An unknown number of drug users manage to avoid detection even when they go through the testing process. For example, some drivers are successfully adulterating or substituting their urine specimens with products that are widely available and marketed as allowing drivers to "beat" the test.

Interestingly, GAO investigators actually posed as commercial truck drivers needing drug tests. They found that employees at 10 of 24 collection sites tested did not ask the investigator to empty his pants pockets, as they are required to do, to ensure he was not carrying adulterants or substitutes.

In addition, GAO investigators purchased adulterants and synthetic urine through the Internet and used them in 8 of the 24 drug test specimens.11 The laboratories that analyzed the 8 specimens did not detect the adulterants or substitutes the investigators used.

Among the drivers who do test positive, an unknown number continue to drive-primarily by "job-hopping"-without completing a required return-to- duty process guided by a substance abuse professional.

Those who do not go through the return-to-duty process and continue to drive are called job-hoppers-job-hoppers test positive for one carrier; are fired, quit, or are not hired; do not go through the return-to-duty process; abstain from drug use for a short period; test negative on a pre-employment test for another carrier; go to work for another carrier; and could continue to use drugs.

Furthermore, self-employed owner-operators are also unlikely to remove themselves from safety-sensitive duty in the event of a positive test, though it is not known how many truly self-employed owner-operators exist.

So what Does the GAO Suggest?

• Increase the number of drivers tested by strengthening the enforcement of safety audits for new carriers. Stiffer requirementsfor having a testing program will likely result in more new entrants havingeffective drug testing programs

• Reduce opportunities to subvert the test:

• additional authority to levy fines when collection sites do not follow federal protocols. This could decrease the opportunity to subvert the test. Also,
• congressional action to ban subversion products at the federal level could make these products more difficult to obtain.

For reducing the number of drivers who test positive and continue to drive:

• a national database of drug testing information and authority to suspend a commercial driver's license (CDL) for a positive drug test result or refusal-to-test.

The GAO writes that "a national database is attractive because it provides information on a driver's past drug test history and helps ensure that a carrier will not unknowingly hire a job-hopper." Furthermore, FMCSA has begun to lay the groundwork for such a database. FMCSA may need additional authority over service agents to ensure reporting of information to the database. FMCSA would also need to consider driver protections and a process by which information can be corrected or removed from the database. State suspension of a driver's CDL for a positive test or a refusal to take the test could be an effective deterrent because it directly affects a driver's commercial license and ability to operate a commercial motor vehicle and addresses issues surrounding poor compliance by carriers as well as inherent problems with self-employed drivers. Because CDLs are issued by states, Congress would need to take action to encourage or compel states to create or modify existing state laws to suspend a driver's CDL.

Pull Quote:

"a national database is attractive because it provides information on a driver's past drug test history and helps ensure that a carrier will not unknowingly hire a job-hopper" GAO