More than 10 million employment-related drug tests in 2017 showed a drop in opioid-positive results, but an increase in positive results for amphetamine use.
Overall, there was a 12 percent drop in the total of positive results among New Jerseyworkers when compared to 2016, according to the nation’s largest diagnostic services provider.
In a May report from Secaucus-based Quest Diagnostics, the annual overall percentage of positive employment-related drug tests in the state fell to 3.6 from 4.1 percent on the back of decreases in positive tests for opiates, marijuana and PCP.
Quest Diagnostics used more than 10 million urine-based drug tests results from 2017 when compiling its annual survey of workplace positivity rates.
Many of the urine-based tests used in the Quest report were assigned for cause, records show. Some other tests were part of pre-employment, post-accident, random, and screenings for the general workforce and federally-regulated employees.
In New Jersey and nationally, the opiate positivity rate within the employment-related testing dropped by 17 percent compared to 2016.
“The depth of our large-scale analysis supports the possibility that efforts by policymakers, employers and the medical community to decrease the availability of opioid prescriptions and curtail the opioid crisis is working to reduce their use, at least among the working public,” said Kim Samano, scientific director at Quest.
Opiate crackdown
North Jersey’s 2017 Quest opiate positivity rates peak around Paterson in Passaic County. The report shows the positivity rate skews higher than the state average of 0.23 percent.
Northern towns in Passaic, Bergen, Sussex and Morris counties have recorded considerable declines in opiate positivity, however, the Quest report shows. The data shows opiate positivity rate range halved in zip codes starting in 074 from 2016 to 2017. Towns with 074 include Allendale in Bergen County (07401), Bloomingdale in Passaic County (07403), Butler in Morris County (07405).
A statewide clampdown on prescription opiates is making those drugs harder to find, said Eugene “Skip” McLaughlin of New Life Recovery Center in Pompton Lakes. However, what may seem good news can be a double-edged sword, he said.
“Because they are not as prevalent as they used to be, the price goes up. And those who are cut off from the pills will switch over to the heroin,” McLaughlin said.
At the rehab and detox level, medical doctor Jeffrey Berman, with Soba College Recovery of Fairfield said his lab is not seeing a decrease in clients with opiate additions. More clients are just being admitted for addictions that start with street heroin instead, he said.
“The kids that would have started with prescription opioids are now going to heroin,” Berman said.
McLaughlin said more than 80 percent of his clients with opiate addictions started with pills. About 80 percent of them ended up switching over to street heroin, he added.
Others are now starting with street heroin of uncertain purity due to the limited availability and high cost of prescription pills to sometimes deadly effects, McLaughlin said.
Overall decline
New Jersey’s overall work-related drug positivity decline of 0.5 percent from 2016 (4.1 percent) was aided in part by declines in positive tests for opiates (down 17 percent) and marijuana (down 5 percent), records show. PCP positivity rates were also down nearly 10 percent in a state where the rate was nearly 50 percent higher than the national average of 0.020 percent, records show.
However, as positivity rates for several drugs fell, there were increasing numbers of workers in New Jersey testing positive for cocaine (up 4 percent) and amphetamines (up 6 percent) in 2017. The positivity rate for a heroin metabolite also increased from 0.058 to 0.068.
The changes in the state’s positivity rates mirror trends on the national scene, where varying usage patterns may be hindering attempts to curb drug use, said Barry Sample, senior director of science and technology with Quest Diagnostics.
Drug use trends
Between 2013 and 2017, Quest Diagnostics has recorded a 150-percent increase in methamphetamine positivity in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Over the last two years, SOBA College Recovery has seen the number of its clients with methamphetamine use problems rise from about 2 to 5 to 6 percent or more, Berman said. Many are coming from North Jersey’s more rural areas, Berman said.
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