According to a recent study by America's largest drug-testing comany, the percentage of positive tests for methamphetamine among U.S. job applicants and workers in the general U.S. workforce dropped more than 22 percent between 2006 and 2007.  The study, conducted by Quest Diagnostics, indicates a reversal of an upward trend in use of the drug by more than 73 percent from 2002 to 2004. 

In a March 12 Associated Press article, White House drug policy director John Walters addressed the study, crediting laws restricting the sale of cold medicines containing key meth ingredients, and efforts to impede drug trafficking from Mexico as having disrupted the market for the dangerous drug.

"When we are able to put strategic pressure on the supply of these drugs, what we're seeing is a direct effect for the better on the number of users that we can actually measure with drug tests," Walters said.

The Quest study also shows that positive tests for cocaine in the general U.S. workforce were down 19 percent between 2006 and 2007 and that overall drug use, among workers subject to drug testing, remains at an all-time low.  

While the apparent decrease is meth use is encouraging, the drug remains a serious safety and health concern for many employers.  Through effective employment policies and practices—such as drug-free workplace programs—employers can take steps to protect themselves and their workers against meth’s negative consequences in the workplace.    

The Department of Labor’s Working Partners for an Alcohol- and Drug-Free Workplace Web site includes a special section on meth that features resources to help employers and employees work together to keep their workplaces free of the hazards caused by worker use of meth and other drugs.

More information on the Quest Diagnostics study can be found here.