Peeing for Profit

 

Who would ever think that pissing in a bottle would become such a huge enterprise, with several corporations getting in on the action? But that=s what has happened.  And we have the Awar on drugs@ to thank for this.  Over 15 million Americans were tested in 1996, double what it was five years earlier, at a cost of $600 million. Drug testing just in the private sector increased by 305% between 1987 and 1994.  About 80% of all large corporations test their employees.   One method of drug testing is the ADrug Alert@ tester, of SherTest Corporation, which targets family members.  This device, the company claims, can be used to increase love and care between parents and children by Abreaking down the barriers of denial between parent and child.@  Another company, Barringer Technologies, Inc., makes Aparticle detection devices@ for the police, claiming it has sold Athousands@ of $35 Atesting kits.@ Psychometrics Corporation introduced a new kit, selling for $75, and the day after it hit the market, the value of the company=s stock tripled!  Finally, drug testing is used constantly in jails and prisons all over the country, with plenty of federal dollars to study the results, known as the ADAM program.

ADAM stands for Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program, begun in 1987.  It is sponsored by the National Institute for Justice and it involves testing in 34 sites across the country, including Las Vegas.  What they do is give urine tests to persons booked into local jails.  With the data collected they are able to, in the words of the latest report, monitor Athe size of a drug-using population in a particular year@ which will yield Aimportant information about the current structure@ of the drug problem.

The most recent annual report (1999) informs us that this program Aprovides communities with a powerful tool for developing effective drug-control strategies and planning policy responses appropriate for the arrestee population.@   What these policies might be is not explained.  Given the fact that at least two-thirds of the federal budget for the Awar on drugs@ is for law enforcement, we may easily guess that not too much goes toward treatment or the Ademand-side@ of the supply and demand equation.  The report proudly notes that with an increase in their budget, ADAM will be extended to 75 sites within the next couple of years, covering more than 40 states. Testing is done through random sampling and is conducted by trained personnel hired by a local team that includes a site director and site coordinator.  Many of these Ateams@ are found within universities (here it is found at UNLV=s Department of Criminal Justice).

Drug testing is done by urinalysis and is done on only five drugs selected by the National Institute of Drug Abuse: cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, opiates, and PCP.  Obviously no testing is done for alcohol, tobacco, and various prescription drugs which do far more harm to people and are related to more crimes (especially alcohol) than these five combined.

What should be noted here is the fact that the vast majority of those arrested and booked into local jails have not been charged with a serious crime.  Indeed, less than 10% of Las Vegas arrestees are charged with a violent crime, which raises many questions.  As noted in the 1999 report, at least half of all arrestees tested positive for at least one drug, while in 80% of the cities more than 60% tested positive.  These are not hardened criminals mind you, but usually ordinary people (the majority were working at least part-time at the time of their arrest and most of these will be released within 24 hours).  For most sites, there has been little change in the rate of drug use during the past five years.  What does this tell us about drug use in this country?  Surveys have consistently shown that most people use some illegal substance at some point in their lives (especially marijuana) and most also use legal drugs - especially alcohol and tobacco. 

So why the obsession for testing?  As usual, we should Afollow the money.@  We may begin with the ADAM project itself, with several billion dollars in taxpayer money being spent each year, providing jobs for thousands and supplemental income for many more (including a stipend for graduate students and extra income for criminal justice departments, not to mention extra money for correctional officers who help supervise the testing).  Then, too, there are huge profits to be made marketing the drug testing equipment itself.  Oh, by the way, there is no evidence that such testing works; one study found that testing actually reduced productivity in the workplace, while other studies have shown that it does little to deter drug using.  But, after all, drug testing is profitable and that=s what really counts.

 

Written in spring, 2001, but never published.