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How can I find a new job that does NOT require drug testing without cause?

  • How can I find a new job that does NOT require drug testing without cause? At my current job I am subject to random drug test. At my last job we were subject to drug tests only if the employer felt there was cause or need to test (workplace accident might be one cause, exteme neglect of duties could be another). Now, I don't take illegal drugs at this point in time. And any such time period is well behind me so I wouldn't possibly test positive for illegal drugs unless it's a false positive. I am interested in getting a new job (IT field) and would like to find a job with an employer that does not test for drugs unless there is cause. First and foremost this is an issue of privacy. Secondly, I might want to occasionally smoke pot with my significant other. I have never smoked often enough so that it caused issues with my job performance. I know I could just simply ask about drug testing but my understanding is that something like this can raise a red flag up front even when it is again, first and foremost, an issue of personal privacy. How does one go about finding a job with no testing or testing based only on reasonable cause? It's preferred that asnswers are posted here to be shared. However, if needed, answers, ideas and questions can be sent to [email protected]

  • Answer:

    Most jobs in the entertainment industry (Hollywood studios, production companies, etc.) require one-time testing when you're first getting hired. Thereafter they don't test. Think about it: how else would so many drug-crazed loons end up with sucessful careers in Hollywood? Or, alternately, how else would so many people with successful Hollywood careers get into trouble with drug abuse? The On Air / "Talent" folk you hear about getting into trouble are just the tip of the iceberg in the industry; a lot of the backroom people (producers, executives) are just as nuts as the rehab-prone stars they market. I work in IT, too, and in my experience working for three different entertainment companies out here in La-la-land, the studios don't even do a damn thing when it's clear some of their employees are using at the office and making life miserable for other employees! For example, at my last job, we all knew my old boss used to buy his stuff from the make-up department lady and he'd be high as a kite all day at work, going on two-hour-long drug-fueled rants pep talks at 7:30 AM about how we were going to smother the competition. Some of my co-workers were pretty messed up too, while a not insignificant number of my other co-workers, who had worked in the industry longer, were openly and actively in AA, NA, or other sobriety organizations. They had to be, to be able to make it in that kind of environment. This kind of a wacky industry makes those of us who push for sensible drug decriminalization and medicinial marijuana intiatives -- like me, I openly support the MPP, and I use our company's matching gifts program to match my yearly 501(c) contributions to them -- look downright naive and boring. So go work for an entertainment company or a Hollywood studio; the IT work is interesting and even fun, there's a lot of expansion into new online initiatives which translates into a steady future job supply, and they're not really going to care what the heck you do with your personal life as long as you work hard.

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SAMSHA disagrees. They maintain that they have the right to test any employee they wish. I'm sure they'd argue that people who have control over large electronic doohickies with lots of blinky lights and fancy wires, and fans are in very dangerous jobs. Or some such nonsense. The point is not that they're incorrect under the law; I agree with you, they're incorrect. The point is that they may try to drug test a person who holds such a job, and the employee would have to refuse the test, lose the job, and sue in order to prove otherwise. Furthermore, many government IT jobs are defined as sensitive and now require security clearances, which carry separate random drug testing requirements. My point is that you shouldn't assume a job is safe from random drug testing simply because it's with the government.

decathecting

Avoid jobs in healthcare, as they will be more likely to test for drugs. Most liberal PRIVATE colleges and universities do not test for drugs unless there is cause.

mds35

I completely sympathize as I have a shy bladder, and have to drink 40oz of water before I go in (which in turn raises the flag that I'm trying to dilute, but I've been hired after doing so.) I'd rather take a blood drug test than urine, but they just don't do that.

IndigoRain

The small-to-middling IT and related companies I've worked for haven't required drug testing. I would be pretty loath to work somewhere that required drug tests for people not operating dangerous machinery (machine tools, buses, etc.), and I don't even partake.

hattifattener

Every company that I've worked for that performed random tests had some kind of high-risk area, like a distribution centre, packing, or assembly. The testing really was for safety concerns where large equipment and such were used. I am almost positive that it was a condition by insurers to keep rates low. I guessed that to avoid the appearance of discriminating, all employees, regardless of whether they working in the high-risk areas, had to be randomly tested. So, my advice is to avoid companies that would have a high-risk employee pool that would require testing to ensure low insurance costs. Now how you figure that out is a question left to the reader.

qwip

Or just ask, do you drug test?

Max Power

Get a job outside of the USA.. .. just a thought :)

lundman

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/testing/testing.shtml I was about to get a job where I would have been tested once before employment. I wasn't sure when the test would be and didn't feel like abstaining. I comforted myself by making plans to fool the test. (The job ended up not working out, which is just as well. I would also rather not work for such people. But just in case. . . )

mai

Von Raab doesn't validate just "safety" reasons for drug testing, but also national security reasons. National Security can easily be argued to encompass virtually anyone with any sort of IT job worth having. ND¢'s statement that drug tests "can only be done for cause" is true to a degree, but not if you use "for cause" in the same sense that the OP does. In ND¢'s comment, "for cause" means... "for any reason that the federal government deems 'reasonable'" -- which could very easily entail random drug testing for a great many positions (yes, even IT positions). Does Von Raab give blanket license to drug test anyone on the Federal payroll? No. The tests just have to be "reasonable" by Fourth Amendment standards. Even a cursory study of Fourth Amendment law reveals this to be a far lower standard than the OP would likely prefer from his employer. Besides... the Government, last I checked, often required you to give them persmission -- (On preview... exactly what aberrant said)

toomuchpete

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