Report on Hair Testing Available From Justice Department

DRUG TESTING February 1993

A new report on hair testing, which can detect drug use for months or years prior to testing, but is incapable of showing impairment, is available from the National Institute of Justice (Tom Mieczkowski et al, "Testing Hair for Illicit Drug Use," National Institute of Justice, Research in Brief, January 1993, NCJ-138539).

The report provides evidence of how hair testing reveals drug use far more frequently than urinalysis. For example, the sample showed twice the number of positive hair tests for cocaine than positive urine tests.