On Tuesday, April 23, 2019, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule that makes minor technical corrections to the OST, FAA, FTA, and PHMSA regulations governing drug testing for safety-sensitive employees. 

Most folks treated in a U.S. emergency room for misuse of prescription medications get into trouble because they mix different substances, a new study reports.

Though they know that nearly all heroin is laced with the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl, many Baltimore users aren't prepared to prevent or treat fentanyl-related overdoses, a new study finds.

Baltimore has a thriving heroin trade and 1,000 opioid overdose deaths a year.

Alcohol impairment remains a leading cause of highway crashes. Nearly 30 percent of the 37,000 deaths on U.S. roads in 2017 were due to alcohol impairment, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Every day, nearly 29 people in the U.S. die in alcohol-impaired crashes—that’s 1 person every 50 minutes.

Join us on April 10th at 10:30am. ASAP's  CEO & President Laura Dashner is presenting, An Interview with Sandra Sapp: New Developments for 2018 in DOT Testing and Return to Duty Process at AAOHN in Jacksonville, Florida. Learn More

Naloxone is a potentially life-saving drug commonly used to reverse opioid overdoses and can be injected as a liquid or delivered as a nasal spray. The fastest method of delivery is through an intravenous (IV) dose, but many first responders, police, families or friends are not well equipped or trained to quickly administer an IV in an emergency situation. Historically, many first responders have used an improvised adaptor to convert the liquid product into a rapidly acting nasal spray.

The FMCSA’s Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is scheduled to be implemented January 6, 2020.  This month, FMCSA has activated a Clearinghouse website (

Every nonprofit leader strives to offer employees health benefits that are attractive and competitive with the market, but also affordable. Affordability, however, may come at a steep price. For example, to reduce costs, health plans may be incentivizing your employees to seek prescription medication to manage pain instead of safer, effective, drug-free care options.

In states where recreational marijuana was legalized, deadly car crashes temporarily increased, according to a new study from Australia’s Monash University.

Researchers examined data from Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and nine nearby jurisdictions from 2009-2016.

The spike lasted about a year after the state changed their laws.

When record-low unemployment rates collide with record-high

More and more employees are testing positive for drugs in workplace screenings, an increase that is concerning for some employers and safety specialists. 

Marijuana positivity for the American workforce is up for the fifth consecutive year, a trend showing no signs of slowing. Drug positivity in states without marijuana use statutes has kept pace with the national average of 2.1% for the combined U.S. workforce. However, data from Quest Diagnostics shows that the states with the highest positivity rates do not necessarily contain the cities or metropolitan areas with the highest marijuana positivity.

CBD, one of the buzziest wellness products of 2019, just hit a snag. New York City has forbidden the sale of CBD edibles in restaurants, bars, and other establishments that fall under the Department of Health's purview, Eater reported Tuesday. Health inspectors in the city are already visiting restaurants to enforce the crackdown.

Senator Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) and Assemblyman William Brough (R-Dana Point) have introduced Senate Bill 283 and Assembly Bill 551 to require law enforcement to drug test in cases of fatalities occurring within 48 hours of a traffic collision. Current state law only requires medical examiners or county coroners to test deceased drivers and passengers for alcohol, but not for drugs. These bills will update current law and ensure that all municipalities are conducting drug testing involving cases of fatal collisions and to report the data to the California Highway Patrol.

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) - It was completely voluntary, but dozens of members of the State Senate and the House of Delegates gathered at the Capitol Wednesday morning, to get drug tested. 

Members of various labor unions - who are often required to be drug tested - were on hand to watch. Many believe that when Delegates and Senators pass drug testing laws that apply to the public, they should be obligated, too.

Who is required to go through the DOT Return to Duty SAP process?

For many employers it can be a stressful and confusing time when an employee tests positive on a DOT mandated drug or alcohol test.  Does the employer now have to “DO” anything?  Must the employee be fired?  How long will the driver be out?  Can the driver be re-hired?  The key is to precisely follow the DOT regulati

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan Addiction Center shows that more than half of the people who take medical marijuana for chronic pain say they have driven under the influence of cannabis within two hours of using it at least once in the past six months. One in five of them said they had driven while "very high" in the past six months, the researchers reported in a new paper in the journal Drug & Alcohol Dependence.

The rate at which middle-aged American women die from overdoses involving opioids and other drugs nearly quadrupled between 1999 and 2017, new government data shows.

As more states legalize medicinal and recreational marijuana , more people are using the substance.

While wisdom teeth are a leftover oddity from our days as a stick-gathering, reed-chewing people who needed back-ups for their teeth, today, they continue to pose unexpected problems. Namely, they lead to post-surgical pain for which many dentists prescribe highly addictive opioids.

Fentanyl has surpassed heroin as the top drug involved in U.S.

In recent years, Americans have begun, justifiably, to recognize the complex public health problem of opioid misuse and associated overdose deaths as a national crisis. Unfortunately, as is often the case when a tidal wave of worry about a particular health issue engulfs the nation, other similar concerns are often swept out of public consciousness.