It is at least a decade since scientists turned their imaginations to creating new compact, portable test instruments and self-contained test kits that could be used to analyze urine and saliva for alcohol, drugs, and their metabolites. Although the potential applications for such tests at the site of specimen collection, now called "on-site" or "point-of-care" testing, range far beyond hospital emergency rooms and law enforcement needs, it was catalyzed by the requirements of workplace drug testing and other drugs-of-abuse testing programs. These programs are now a minor national industry in the United States and in some western European countries, and cover populations as diverse as the military, incarcerated criminals, people suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs, all athletes from college to professional ranks, and of course the general employed population, which is monitored for illegal drug use and numbers in the millions. It is not surprising, then, that the need for rapid and precise tests, conducted economically by trained professionals, has become a major goal. Current government approved and peer reviewed laboratory methods for urine analysis serve present needs very well and have become remarkably robust over the past twenty years, but the logistics of testing some moving populations, such as the military, the Coast Guard, workers on off-shore oil platforms, and athletes-perhaps the most mobile of these groups-are unacceptably cumbersome. Today on-site drug testing is used widely in the workplace, the justice system (probation and parole), hospital emergency rooms, physician offices, and rehabilitation programs. In On-Site Drug Testing, scientists and forensic toxicologists critically evaluate the on-site devices currently available, their validation studies, and their use in a variety of settings. For each device, the expert contributors discuss its principles, materials and reagents, procedures and interpretation, and performance. The tests applied include both therapeutic drugs (lipid-lowering medications, antithrombotic medications, and anticoagulant drugs) at the point of clinical care and drugs of abuse (alcohol, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine, and opiates) in the workplace and the criminal justice system. The well-versed contributors also address critical issues in sample collection and adulteration, and in program standards and legal requirements in workplace testing.
Comprehensive and authoritative, On-Site Drug Testing illuminates the state of on-site drug testing today, and provides all those responsible a firm basis for choosing the best test devices and techniques most suited to their purposes. 246433109