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Nevada Drug Testing

Last updated: September 25, 2023

USA Mobile drug testing has SAMHSA certified drug testing facilities distributed throughout the State of Nevada and there’s bound to be one near you. However, we’re curious if you’ve ever considered the convenience of having the drug testing facility come to you?

We’ll show up anywhere—at your place of business, on the job site, or anywhere else that you need us.

Some of the advantages of mobile drug testing are:

  • No advance scheduling
  • No time lost due to employees traveling back and forth
  •  Never again will you disrupt the night shifts’ sleep pattern having them report to the test site during normal business hours…

“Wait a minute. What?”

Yes, you did read that correctly.

USA Mobile Drug Testing units are ready to roll—anywhere—24/7/365!

Nevada drug testing locations

 

Don’t worry if your city isn’t listed. Just call 800-851-2021. We’ll be happy to assist you in finding a location nearby. However—and we’re sure to mention it during the conversation—you might decide to have us come to you instead.

That’s right. You’ll never have to search for “drug testing near me” again! We’ll send a mobile collection specialist to your location, anywhere throughout the state— 24/7/365.

Employees on the job site? We’ll find them.

Night shift coming due for the annual fitness-for-duty drug test? Why not have us show up during their shift rather than interrupting their sleep schedule to report for testing during normal business hours? The phrase “drug testing near me” takes on an entirely new meaning when the test rolls right up to your location, doesn’t it?

We offer employee education classes, management training, and DOT services. We can also create your company’s drug-free program. We’ll even customize your policies to specifically meet the needs of your business.

We also offer employee education, supervisor training courses, background checks, and drug-free workplace programs.

Our drug-free workplace program isn’t just a “do-it-yourself kit” either. We customize your program to specifically meet your needs, set everything up, educate your staff, conduct all your employee drug testing at your location or job site, and maintain detailed records.

Can it get any better than that?

Nevada drug testing laws

Currently, Nevada is the only state that has banned having marijuana on pre-employment drug tests. Governor Steve Sisolak signed the bill into law on June 5, 2019. It goes into effect on January 1, 2020.

However, that’s the only Nevada state law regulating or restricting drug testing in the private sector. Employee drug-testing programs in the private workplace are solely based on the employers’ discretion. Even so, Nevada business owners must comply with federal government regulations in safety-related industries such as transportation, aviation, and those in the Department of Defense. Safety-sensitive employees must submit to drug testing as part of a safety measure initiative.

After making a job offer, an employer may request an applicant take a drug test as part of the job application process. To date, the basic 5 panel drug test in Nevada identified amphetamines (which includes methamphetamine), PCP, cocaine, marijuana, and opiates.

Make note

Information gathered from Nevada employers indicates that Nevada loses more than $96 million annually as a result of the use of drugs or alcohol in the workplace. Because Nevada doesn’t regulate drug testing, many employers in the private sector are reluctant to drug test employees. One reason is that drug testing is sometimes seen as a breach of employee rights, although when presented from a safety standpoint, it is not.

The Nevada Fair Employment Practices Act applies to private employers having 15 or more full-time employees. It forbids employment practices that discriminate based on certain classifications, including disability. Alcoholism can fall under this category, although illegal drug use does not.

Nevada is regarded as a “right to work” state, which implies that employees in Nevada are working at their own will. Therefore, an employee can either submit to a requested drug test or quit the position.

Nevada labor discrimination law

Nevada state policy dictates that employee recruitment, appointment, assignment, training, compensation, and promotion occur on the basis of merit and without regard to race, color, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, domestic partnership, or disability.

Furthermore, employers in Nevada are not allowed to engage in any job application process, hiring, firing, promotion schedule, compensation, and training that could discriminate against an individual with a disability as long as such an individual is qualified.

Nevada statutes define disability as “any physical or mental impairment that limits one or more of an individual’s major life activities, a record of such an impairment and being regarded as having such an impairment,” hence the use of alcohol or drugs can be technically regarded as a disability under certain circumstances. It’s wise for employers to drug test all employees rather than target a specific group of people to avoid liability and discrimination claims.

An employee or potential employee is regarded as “qualified” to be employed, regardless of his or her disability, if the employee or potential employee is able to perform the essential functions required by the job with or without reasonable accommodation.

Types of discrimination

Apart from discrimination against disability, other types of discrimination in the workplace include discrimination due to gender, race, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and age. In fact, Nevada state law even protects individuals aged 40 years and above from employment discrimination.

Nevada law not only protects employees and applicants from racial discrimination but also prohibits employment decisions based on stereotypes and assumptions based on liabilities, traits or the achievement of individuals of a certain race. Furthermore, denial of equal employment opportunity due to marriage or a relationship with a person of another race is prohibited.

Marijuana drug testing laws

Nevada opened the floodgates on recreational marijuana as of July 1, 2017, and hasn’t looked back. Between Nevada’s citizens and the tourists who partake while visiting the state, marijuana immediately became an astronomical source of revenue.

Despite legalization, Nevada employers still reserved the right to keep marijuana on their company drug tests—until last June anyway. Still, even though employers must soon remove marijuana from pre-employment screening, it probably stays put for any other testing the company’s drug-free policies mandate.

Nevada medical marijuana

Nevada legalized medical marijuana use in January 2017. The law cited as the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act doesn’t demand that employers accommodate the use of medical marijuana in the workplace.

Employers have the right to ban possession and use of medical marijuana while at work. Furthermore, employers can sanction any employee who is found to be under the influence of marijuana on the job.

Lastly, for the time being, possession and the use of marijuana still remains illegal for all purposes under federal law. Marijuana remains a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substance Act.

Drug-free workplace policy

Other than having to remove marijuana from all pre-employment drug tests in January 2020, Nevada doesn’t have any statutory laws regulating drug-free workplace policies. However, it’s wise for employers to keep the following guidelines in mind when maintaining a drug-free workplace policy:

  • Employers should publish and educate employees on the organization’s drug-free workplace policy.
  • Employers are permitted to carry out workplace drug testing under limited circumstances. They include upon a conditional offer of employment, after an accident, when there is a reasonable suspicion of impairment, or after returning to duty from a substance abuse program.

It’s always a good idea to have a professional look over your policies to ensure you’re in compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations pertaining to drug testing in the workplace.

USA Mobil Drug Testing’s drug-free program takes care of all that and your employee drug testing besides—on location if you’d like, by the way. We take care of all documentation and any related paperwork too.

Testing methods

Unless regulated by the DOT, the method used to administer the test can be either the urine, saliva, or hair follicle drug test. Each of them offers accurate results, however, costs vary as do the detection periods.

All three testing methods undergo the same types of tests to determine drug use. Laboratory testing begins with an immunoassay (IA) test. Specimens testing positive go on for confirmation testing. The gas chromatography/mass spectrometry test (GC/MS) confirms the positive result by identifying both the drug and the drug level contained in the test sample.

Urine drug test

More employers choose the urine test for employee evaluation than any other. In fact, of the 55 million or so drug tests submitted for analysis each year, over 90% of them are the urine test. They’re the most cost-effective test on the market.

However, due to the privacy needed to provide a test sample, there is a chance of someone attempting to falsify the test with adulterants or substitutions. This isn’t near the problem that it’s been in the past though. Advances in testing technology coupled with the highly sophisticated laboratory equipment we have access to today have made it increasingly difficult for cheaters to succeed.

Urine tests provide a range of detection periods that are drug-specific and range from a few hours to a few days or weeks. Those that use marijuana heavily are at risk of testing positive for more than 30 days after they quit using the drug.

Results return within a week.

Hair follicle drug test

The only test that’s more costly than the hair follicle test is the blood test. It’s rarely used for employee drug testing and the majority of those circumstances are in post-accident situations. The blood tests only identify drugs in the system for a few hours.

The hair follicle test, on the other hand, identifies any and all drug use for a ninety-day period. The extended detection window is the reason for many employers to overlook the added cost. In fact, some employers in the trucking industry use both the DOT drug test and the hair follicle drug test.

Drug metabolites are stored throughout the body until excreted. Those that wind up in the hair follicles exit the body by growing into the hair shaft. The 90 day detection period stems from the fact that human hair grows approximately one-half inch each month. The standard test length of a hair sample is one and one-half inches.

Voila!

Technically, though. drug detection is possible for a longer period of time. If laboratories are called upon to provide a larger window of detection, they merely adjust the test length.

Despite claims of detoxifying shampoos or home remedies that require mixing a concoction including who knows what to soak your hair in, there is no way to strip the evidence of drug use from your hair.

It takes about a week to receive the results of this test.

Saliva drug test

The saliva drug test is in the mid-range concerning cost. Recent advancements in technology have made it much more reliable. So much so, in fact, that law enforcement agencies across the nation are beginning to use the mouth swab test if driver impairment is suspected during a routine traffic stop.

They’re an excellent choice for detecting recent drug use because most drugs are detected within minutes. However, the detection period only lasts up to 72 hours prior to the test.

Products, such as mouthwashes and gums, proclaiming to rid the mouth of the evidence of drug use are making false statements. The body constantly produces saliva and saliva contains drug metabolites.

Enough said.

Mouth swab tests provide quicker results. Employers hear back in just a couple of days.

Drug identification

Substance abuse is a huge problem in the workplace. It costs employers billions of dollars because employees who use drugs are absent or tardy more often, lower overall productivity, and visit the doctor more frequently.

Moreover, they’re at high risk of causing an accident.

Employers who promote a drug-free workplace do so for safety’s sake. All employees deserve a safe work environment and drug-testing helps to ensure that.

We have the capability to test for all commonly abused drugs as well as “specialty” drugs such as bath salts, K2, or steroids. Our standard drug tests are available in 5, 9, 10, or 12 panel tests giving you the ability to test employees as comprehensively as you choose.

Furthermore, it’s no problem to replace one drug on the panel with another. So, come January, it’s not going to be a big deal to remove marijuana from your pre-employment tests. You can just pop another drug in its place. Furthermore, customers are free to extend any test panel by adding more drugs.

And, hey, creating a unique drug test from scratch isn’t out of the question either.

Detection windows

We’ve established that the detection windows vary depending on both the test method used and the specific drug in question. However, the drugs themselves offer a varied identification period as well.

Why is that?

It turns out that genetics has a lot to do with it. Our bodies metabolize everything that we ingest. However, the amount of time that it takes to complete the process is programmed in our DNA. There are external factors that play a part as well.

They include:

  • Dosage and frequency of use
  • BMI (body mass index)
  • Overall health
  • Age

The DOT’s on the move

Established to ensure the safe passage of the public at large, the Department of Transportation (DOT) created several administrations to oversee the different industries.

  • Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
  • Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
  • Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
  • Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
  • Federal Maritime Administration aka United States Coast Guard

Anyone employed in a position within these industries deemed to be safety-sensitive submits to DOT drug testing.

The DOT drug test

The DOT drug test consists of a standard 5 panel urine test with the addition of an extended opioid panel to identify four semi-synthetic opioids. The extension was added in January 2018 in a direct effort to combat our nation’s growing opioid epidemic.

They are:

These four prescription pain medications were grossly overprescribed until doctors realized how highly addictive they are. However, they’re also widely available on the black market, albeit expensive. Patients that can no longer obtain a doctor’s prescription nor afford the cost of their drug of choice on the street often turn to heroin as an alternative.

There’s another change to the DOT drug test just over the horizon.

A formal request to make the hair follicle test the regulated test method for safety-sensitive personnel is currently making its way through the chain-of-command. It’s not expected to meet with any resistance along the way.

FMCSA Clearinghouse tracks drug and alcohol violations

Beginning January 6, 2020, all potential drivers must be queried in the Clearinghouse database to check for unresolved drug or alcohol violations. If a query returns such information, the employer may not hire the driver unless they choose to do so after successful completion of the return to duty process.

Drivers that fail a company drug or alcohol test will be reported to the Clearinghouse. The information is retained for a period of five years or until the issue is resolved, whichever is longer.

In addition, for the time being, employers must continue to contact previous employers listed in the driver’s work history as normal until January 6, 2023.

The Clearinghouse is set up to be an effective tool to eliminate the possibility of drivers neglecting to report a drug or alcohol violation. It will also stop drivers with a violation from simply relocating to another state, obtaining a new CDL (commercial driver’s license) there, and starting “fresh.”

Our MRO’s are trained and ready to roll with the Clearinghouse requirements. We constantly monitor and update our DOT drug testing program to keep you in compliance. Furthermore, we’re able to show up and test your drivers anywhere—24/7/365.

FAQs / Employees want to know

Can my employer drug test me without an official policy?

Yes, but probably won’t due to the risk of an HR-related lawsuit. It would be a rare case, indeed, for an employer to drug test without proper policies and procedures in place.

Is it true that Nevada doesn’t let employers test for pot anymore?

Yes and no. Beginning January 1st of next year, employers can no longer have marijuana on their pre-employment drug tests. However, they’ll likely keep it on all other employee drug testing, especially until a test for current impairment hits the market.

If the STATES Act passes, will the DOT have to take marijuana off their drug test?

It currently looks like that would be the case, however, those that oppose the bill are calling for carve-outs to be implemented if the bill passes into law. Marijuana impairment is considered a safety hazard in many workplaces.

I’m an owner-operator. Do I have to query myself in the Clearinghouse database?

Actually, your consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) needs to access the Clearinghouse on your behalf.

I’m just wondering if someone smoked a joint who doesn’t normally smoke and has a drug test for a new job a week later will pass it?

Most likely. Well, unless it’s a hair test because the drug metabolites will have grown out into the hair shaft by then.

Is it true that gargling bleach will erase all traces of drugs from your mouth long enough to pass a swab test?

NO! As in answer to your question and as in, NO! Please, don’t try that. How that quick fix ever started its way around the internet is beyond us.

Gargling bleach is insanely dangerous. If you should swallow even a tiny amount, it can do extensive damage internally. Please, start that tidbit of information circulating immediately, will you? Yikes!

The body constantly produces saliva. Therefore, gargling with bleach, mouthwash, or anything else isn’t going to cleanse drug metabolites from it.

Can I access the Clearinghouse to see if there is any information about me there?

Yes, drivers just need to register to have free access to the database at any time. Your CDL number is your identification number.

If I admit to my boss that I have a drug problem, am I going to lose my job?

Well, we can’t answer that question with certainty, of course, but we’d hope not. Some employers do stipulate in their drug-free policies that if rehabilitation is instigated by employee admission rather than a failed drug test, they may return to work after completing rehabilitation.

Keep moving forward with this. We’re pulling for you.

Ready to learn more or schedule a drug test?

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