Ranking Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure recently sent a letter to Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine Chao urging her to require drug testing of four prescription opioids for safety-sensitive transportation workers.
Safety-sensitive transportation workers include pilots, engineers, and commercial drivers.
Drug overdose is the top cause of accidental deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year, 11.8 million Americans abused opioids and 52,000 died of overdoses. The CDC forecasts that this year the death toll will reach 71,000.
The DOT did not adopt drug testing until 1991 and follows Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs Using Urine. Employees are tested for five drugs, but the test does not include synthetic or semi-synthetic opioids.
In January, HHS updated its guidelines and included prescription opioids. The guidelines went into effect Oct. 1.
“We understand that DOT issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Jan. 23, 2017, to adopt the HHS guidelines on opioids,” the letter said. “Comments were due more than six months ago, and the NPRM has since languished in this Administration. We strongly urge you to take action now to finalize this rulemaking as a first step toward addressing the opioid crisis.”