STUDENT PHARMACIST DRUG TESTING

To advocate for the use of pre-enrollment, random, and for-cause drug testing throughout pharmacy education and pharmacy practice experiences, based on defined criteria with appropriate testing validation procedures; further,

To encourage colleges of pharmacy to develop policies and processes to identify impaired individuals; further,

To encourage colleges of pharmacy to facilitate access to and promote programs for treatment and to support recovery; further,

To encourage colleges of pharmacy to use validated testing panels that have demonstrated effectiveness detecting commonly misused, abused, or illegally used substances.

Rationale

The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 stipulated that large group health plans cannot impose annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits that are less favorable that those imposed on medical or surgical benefits. Therefore, health insurers and group health plans are required to provide the same level of benefits for mental health and/or substance use treatment and services that they do for medical or surgical care. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) later amended this law to also include individual health plans. The ACA also embraces substance use disorders as one of the ten elements of essential health benefits.

Most colleges of pharmacy require students to be enrolled in health insurance and therefore should receive similar benefits for mental health and substance use services and treatment. Despite regulation of opioid prescriptions, opioid-related overdoses are at an all-time high. Research indicates that the best help for someone with a substance use problem or disorder is early interventions. With the growth of substance use disorder clinics and increasing coverage from insurance, recovery is now an obtainable outcome. Efficacy of treatment and rehabilitation as well as the accessibility of such programs further supports the importance of colleges of pharmacy facilitating access to students seeking services or treatment for substance use problems or disorders.

In addition, drug testing should be supported by an addiction recovery program, as outlined in the ASHP Statement on the Pharmacist’s Role in Substance Abuse Prevention, Education, and Assistance.