Drug and Alcohol Testing
Keeping the “Gold Standard” Cost Effective
Technological advancements have made an impact in many industries and the area of drug and alcohol testing is no exception. However, the industry that does the most drug and alcohol testing has remained loyal to the gold standard – urinalysis. With caseloads growing, the cost and time of testing for drugs and alcohol is taking its toll and the gold standard is becoming entirely too expensive to use on all offenders. With this in mind, StreeTime Technologies is looking at drug and alcohol testing at government agencies with a different approach – only test the population that needs to be tested. How do we determine who needs to be tested? With technology.
PassPoint Drug Screening
The need for frequent drug use monitoring to deter drug use among drug court clients has been listed as a best practice by the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI).
Recognizing the need to increase drug use monitoring, but also recognizing that substantially increasing the frequency of urinalysis testing would exceed the budget for this activity, the Douglas County Drug Court implemented retinal-based drug screening in November 2004. The system selected is called PassPointTM, as provided by Drug Impairment Detection Services, LLC. PassPointTM is designed to be used to screen for non-use of drugs.
New drug test may cut down on costs, cheaters in Greene County
Passpoint measures response of the pupil to screen for drugs.
XENIA — In her years of administering drug tests to probationers Melissa Litteral has seen everything, from fake urine to prosthetic genitals, used to “beat the system.”
“When they get caught it’s another violation,” said the Greene County Adult director. It means her probation officers spend a lot of time on drug testing, more than 2,000 hours a year — almost the equivalent of one full-time position.
Litteral hopes a new drug test called Passpoint will drastically reduce the cost and man hours it takes to administer the tests. The new system from Streetime Technologies uses pupilometry, an eye test of pupil response to light to pre-screen for recent drug use, according to Litteral and John Diamond, a Streetime sales rep. Suspected violations are then verified with a urine test.
