According to the survey, only 48 percent of Colorado companies with “well defined” drug testing policies will fire an employee for a first-time positive test result for cannabis — down from 53 percent in 2014. Five percent of companies surveyed reported having dropped marijuana from their pre-employment testing within the past two years.
“What we’re seeing here is basically it’s (concerns about employees misusing marijuana in the workplace) a nonissue,” an attorney for the group said.
Standard workplace drug screening identifies the presence of inert drug metabolites (breakdown products), but not the active drug itself. Carboxy-THC, the most common metabolite of THC, may be detectable in urine for weeks or even months following previous marijuana exposure.
NORML’s fact-sheet, “Marijuana Legalization and Impact on the Workplace,” appears online.
