{"id":42935,"date":"2018-01-12T11:26:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T16:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/?p=42935"},"modified":"2018-01-12T11:26:40","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T16:26:40","slug":"dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"DOT&#8217;s new drug-testing protocols are in effect","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In November, the federal Department of Transportation finalized a rule that added four semi-synthetic opioids \u2013 hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone \u2013 to its testing regimen, despite opposition from a number of unions. Brand names of some of those opioids include OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet, Vicodin, Lortab, Norco, Dilaudid and Exalgo.<br \/>\nEffects of this expansion, which took effect Jan. 1, as reported by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ttd.org\">Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO (TTD)<\/a> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Employees who are tested for these drugs and cannot offer a legitimate medical explanation such as a prescription will be recorded as testing positive.<\/li>\n<li>Employees who have a valid prescription and test positive will have their results downgraded to a negative.<\/li>\n<li>Medical review officers (MROs) cannot deny the legitimacy of a prescription for the purpose of establishing a legitimate medical explanation for the positive test. However, the MRO retains the right to flag safety concerns.<\/li>\n<li>Clarification of what a \u201cvalid prescription\u201d is, especially regarding medication given to take \u201cas needed\u201d as opposed to one prescribed to be taken in a strict time frame is needed and could be affected by the discretion of the MRO.<\/li>\n<li>The rule establishes three new \u201cfatal flaws\u201d to a test: 1. Absence of a Chain of Custody Form (CCF); 2. A specimen is not submitted along with the CCF; and 3. Two separate collections are performed using a single CCF.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Comments from the TTD opposed the cutoff levels established for a positive test, requested additional training for MROs, sought clearer guidelines to define what constituted a valid prescription and implementation of a process to challenge the findings of an MRO.\u00a0 These suggestions were disregarded. In addition, the DOT also ended its blind specimen testing program over the TTD\u2019s objection.<br \/>\nMembers should contact the SMART Transportation Department Legal Department if any issues or difficulties arise from this expansion to the DOT&#8217;s drug-testing protocols.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In November, the federal Department of Transportation finalized a rule that added four semi-synthetic opioids \u2013 hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone \u2013 to its testing regimen, despite opposition from a number of unions. Brand names of some of those opioids include OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet, Vicodin, Lortab, Norco, Dilaudid and Exalgo. Effects of this expansion, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":7,"featured_media":24855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44,31,33,300,9,18,25],"tags":[104,3992,2910,3993,760],"member_types":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DOT&#039;s new drug-testing protocols are in effect - SMART Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DOT&#039;s new drug-testing protocols are in effect - SMART Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In November, the federal Department of Transportation finalized a rule that added four semi-synthetic opioids \u2013 hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone \u2013 to its testing regimen, despite opposition from a number of unions. Brand names of some of those opioids include OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet, Vicodin, Lortab, Norco, Dilaudid and Exalgo. Effects of this expansion, which [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SMART Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-12T16:26:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DOT_Logo_150px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bnagy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bnagy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bnagy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bfe5297f0cbb924d5618535ce3276843\"},\"headline\":\"DOT&#8217;s new drug-testing protocols are in effect\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-12T16:26:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-12T16:26:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/\"},\"wordCount\":310,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DOT_Logo_150px.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"bus\",\"DOT rules\",\"Drug Testing\",\"opioids\",\"Train\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Amtrak\",\"Amtrak\/Commuter\",\"Bus\",\"Bus news\",\"News\",\"Transportation\",\"Washington\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/dots-new-drug-testing-protocols-are-in-effect\/\",\"name\":\"DOT's new drug-testing protocols are in effect - 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