Employers are discovering more marijuana use in drug tests after workplace accidents, according to new research from Quest Diagnostics.
The number of drug tests performed after an accident that came up positive for marijuana grew 204 percent from 2012 to 2022, coinciding with a trend of more states legalizing recreational cannabis use. The post-accident positivity rate was 7.3 percent in 2022, up from 6.7 percent in 2021. Even among workers in safety-sensitive jobs, post-accident positivity for marijuana jumped from 1.5 percent in 2018 to 2.1 percent in 2022, according to Quest, a medical lab testing company based in Secaucus, N.J.
The positivity rate for all marijuana tests from the U.S. workforce was 4.3 percent in 2022, up from 3.9 percent in 2021. The uptick in the positivity rate was higher in states that have legalized medical and/or recreational marijuana, Quest reported.
"The overall U.S. workforce positivity rate continued to be at a historically elevated level in 2022, even as much of the nation's workforce returned to the office post-pandemic," said Keith Ward, vice president for employer solutions at Quest in Overland Park, Kan. "This historic rise seems to correspond with sharp increases in positivity for marijuana in both pre-employment and post-accident drug tests, suggesting that changing societal attitudes about marijuana may be impacting workplace behaviors and putting colleagues at risk."
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