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Friend,

For decades, the drug war has infiltrated the workplace and profoundly impacted access to stable employment. 

Millions of people are forced to pee in a cup for a drug test to get and keep a job despite a lack of any evidence connecting off-the-clock drug use to poor job performance or decreased workplace safety. People with criminal records for drug law violations are often automatically disqualified from getting a job or a professional trade license. And people with substance use disorders face workplace discrimination and barriers to services.

These harmful policies are counterproductive yet they can affect anyone in just about any workplace.

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The idea that people who use drugs cannot be good employees was planted at the very inception of the modern drug war. Twisted drug war logic has allowed this lie to live on with discriminatory policies that affect millions of people. Pervasive drug testing for employment has become one of the most extreme examples of the drug war in day-to-day life.

--Drug tests only show part of the picture — they can only determine if a person has a drug metabolite in their system. They cannot tell how much of a drug was consumed, whether that use was on or off the clock, how intoxicated the person became, or whether the person has a substance use disorder.
--All states and the District of Columbia allow drug testing in some job settings, and 18 states allow both public and private employers to conduct drug testing, regardless of job function.
--Only 10% of employees who have been drug tested used drugs within the past month. Marijuana is the most common type of drug identified in employee drug tests, both because it’s the most commonly used drug and because it can stay in a body’s system up to a month after use. Even in states where medical marijuana or adult use is legal, some employers will test for marijuana, and a positive test can be used as justification to terminate an employee.
--A drug arrest or charge can bar people from getting a job. Over 70 million people — or as many as one in five people in the U.S. — have some type of criminal record, and drug offenses make up the largest percentage of arrests.

Employment is one of the most important factors associated with a reduction in potential negative consequences of drug use. We should focus on giving people more economic stability, not needlessly disqualifying them from jobs based on drug tests and criminal records.

For far too long the drug war has robbed livelihoods. It’s time to uproot the drug war from the workplace and everywhere else it shows up. 

I hope you will join our critical conversation about this on October 27: [link removed]

And if you know someone who cares about this issue, please share this email with them [link removed].

Sincerely,

Melissa Moore
Director, Civil Systems Reform
Drug Policy Alliance

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