New data suggests more people than ever are coming to work with marijuana because of a wave of legalizations.
An analysis of more than six million urine tests by Quest Diagnostics, the world’s largest network of diagnostic laboratories, found that in 2022 nearly one in 20 workers would test positive for cannabis on a routine drug test, a new record.
That’s up from about 3 percent in 2018 and represents the highest rate in 25 years since Quest started processing those tests.
The industries with the most marijuana users were food service and hospitality, closely followed by retail.
A steady increase in all major industries, coinciding with a wave of legalization efforts over the past decade, suggests more people are using the drug overall. Food service and hospitality workers were the most avid users, while transportation and warehouse workers saw the most significant increases over a five-year period
In the ranking of the industries in which there are most often workers who use marijuana, after accommodation and hospitality come transportation and storage, then real estate and finally wholesale
Keith Ward, general manager and vice president of Employer Solutions at Quest Diagnostics said, “Our Quest Diagnostics 2022 analysis shows that the overall positivity rate of the US workforce remained at historically high levels in 2022, even though a majority of the workforce of the country returned there.” the office after the pandemic.
“This historical increase appears to coincide with a sharp increase in positive attitudes toward marijuana in both pre-employment and post-accident drug testing, suggesting that changing societal attitudes toward marijuana are affecting workplace behavior and putting co-workers at risk could.”
Rates at which people use marijuana across industries have increased 54 percent over the past five years, from a rate of 2.8 percent of workers testing positive for the drug in 2018 to 4.3 percent a year 2022, the highest marijuana positivity rate since 1997.
The latest positivity data, drawn from more than 6.3 million urine tests conducted on staff and analyzed by Quest Diagnostics, showed that people who work in both the hospitality, lodging and retail sectors are the most likely to use cannabis in any form.
THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, can stay in a person’s body for up to a month. So a positive urine test doesn’t necessarily mean the person will show up to work stoned.
But the steady upward trend in all major industries, coinciding with a wave of legalization efforts over the past decade, suggests more people are using the drug in general, which could also be true in the workplace.
In the ranking of the industries in which there are most often workers who use marijuana, after accommodation and hospitality come transportation and storage, then real estate and finally wholesale.
In 2022, 6.4 percent of people working in the transportation and warehousing industries — industries that provide people and freight transportation, warehousing, and storage of goods — used marijuana.
This could include being stoned at work, although Quest has been unable to provide exact dates of consumption.
That’s up from 2.4 percent in 2018 — a staggering 167 percent increase in five years.
THC is fat-soluble, meaning it binds to fat molecules in the body, meaning it can remain for days or even weeks depending on how often you consume it. So a person who used the drug on a Saturday could test positive on Tuesday.
In 2018, around three percent of brokers and leasing agents used cannabis, over the next five years the proportion shot up by 93 percent to 5.4 percent in 2022.
Meanwhile, in 2018, 2.4 percent of wholesale workers used the drug. By 2022, the rate was over five percent, an increase of 125 percent.
Marijuana is being embraced by many industries as more and more states legalize it in one form or another.
The above shows cannabis use in all American states. Twenty-one states and DC have legalized it for recreational use in addition to medicinal use, while almost all now allow medicinal use.
Data shows that cannabis use among under-30s is now at an all-time high. It’s rising across all age groups as more states lift restrictions on the drug
Twenty-one states and Washington, DC have legalized it for recreational use in addition to medicinal use, while nearly all now allow medicinal use.
The states where recreational marijuana is legal saw the largest increases in test positivity rates. In states with legal recreational weed, positivity rates increased nearly 12 percent from 2021 to 2022. In states where the drug is legal for medical use only, the increase was smaller, at about eight percent.
In states where neither recreational nor medical marijuana is legal, the positivity rate rose a little more than 3 percent year over year and nearly 15 percent over five years — 2.7 percent in 2018 versus 3.1 percent year over year 2022.
dr Suhash Harwani, senior director of science for employer solutions at Quest Diagnostics, said, “In the general U.S. workforce, states that have legalized recreational and medical marijuana use have higher rates of positivity than the national average for states that use marijuana have not legalized appear to have positivity rates below the national average.”
Marijuana has undergone something of a global rebranding campaign over the past 20 years, with more and more people – medical and research professionals as well as laypeople – touting its benefits in treating chronic pain and various mental health issues.
Because of this, usage in the US has increased significantly overall. Many people may choose to smoke, vape, or eat an edible before work to improve their mood or creativity, although there is mounting evidence that the drug offers no creative benefits.
And in more and more scenarios, the drug does more harm than good. Quest’s findings suggest that marijuana use is playing an increasing role in work-related injuries and accidents.
In 2022, marijuana positivity from accidental urine drug tests in the general workforce was 7.3 percent, up 9 percent from 6.7 percent in 2021.
The new peak follows a steady increase in post-accident marijuana positivity annually from 2012 to 2022. Over that decade-long period, post-accident marijuana positivity increased more than 204 percent.
Katie Mueller, a senior program manager at the National Safety Council who focuses on cannabis safety, said: “Intoxicating cannabis products, including marijuana, can have a significant impact on workplace safety and have been shown to slow reaction time, impair memory and impair important… Skills.” about driving a car.
“The Quest data provides compelling evidence that increased employee use of cannabis products may contribute to a higher risk of injury in the workplace.”
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