Review and Recommendations for Drug Testing in Substance Use Treatment Contexts

Adi Jaffe, Sean Molnar, Nicole Williams, Emily Wong, Therese Todd, Chris Caputo, Jessica Tolentino and Shirlee Ye

 

Abstract

Drug and alcohol use have been associated with substantial impairments in functioning in a number of settings including driving [1], the work place [2], family functioning [3] and military service [4, 5]. In the United States alone it is estimated that 24.6 million Americans over the age of 12 are current illicit drug users while approximately 137 million Americans are current alcohol consumers [6]. Given the association of drug use with negative outcomes and behaviors including depression [7, 8], criminal offending [9-11], sexual risk [8, 12], poor parenting [13] and cardiovascular disease and death [14, 15], it is important for health practitioners to be able to appropriately identify and, when appropriate, treat problematic substance use. It is within this framework that drug testing methods (DTM) have been used as a detection tool in settings such as the workplace, military, athletics, criminal justice system, health care settings, and drug treatment facilities [16-18].

Published on: August 19, 2016
doi: 10.17756/jrdsas.2016-025
Citation: Jaffe A, Molnar S, Nicole W, Emily W, Therese T, et al. 2016. Review and Recommendations for Drug Testing in Substance Use Treatment Contexts. J Reward Defic Syndr Addict Sci 2(1): 28-45.
 
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