Drug Testing Substance Panel
Currently, the drug testing panel under DOT Federal regulations does not included hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, and oxymorphone in the drug testing under the Opiates part of the drug panel. Beginning, January 1, 2018, these drugs will be added to the Federal Drug Testing Panel.
The Department of Transportation will also add methylenedioxyamphetamine as an initial test analyte; and remove methylenedioxymethamphetamine as a confirmatory test analyte.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had previously added these drugs to their test panel for Federal drug-testing programs for urine testing. The Department of Transportation made a final rule on November 13, 2017 to revise CFR 49 Part 40 regulation to be consistent with certain parts of the Department of Health and Human Services Mandatory Guidelines.
The nationwide epidemic of opioid abuse is one of the reasons the Department of Transportation decided to expand the drug testing panel. The addition of the four drugs will help prevent federally transportation employees from using these drugs illegally.
The DOT drug testing panel is used for all test types under the Department of Transportation. This includes:
- Pre-employment testing
- Random drug testing
- Reasonable Suspicion testing
- Post-accident testing
- Return-to-duty testing
- Follow-up testing
There are no changes to the test result reporting procedures, unless the test result is positive for one of the drugs, and the employee does not have a valid prescription for the medication. In this case, the result letter will show which opiate was positive.
This change affects all safety sensitive employees subject to drug testing under Part 40 in the transportation industry.
Those Department of Transportation Agencies affected by this change are:
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
- Federal Transit Authority (FTA)
- Pipeline & Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA)
- United States Coast Guard (USCG)
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