From the janitor all the way up to the head of the Raleigh County Commission, anyone drawing a county paycheck soon can be expected to undergo a test for drug abuse or misuse.
A contract was approved Tuesday by the commission with Southern Regional Treatment Courts Laboratory of Princeton, working in tandem with the Mercer Day Report Center, to perform the checks at $8.50 apiece.
Steve Collins, executive director of the DRC in Princeton, explained that tests are conducted in three phases — pre-employment, for probable cause, and at random.
“No one will know who they are,” Collins advised the commission.
“Even myself. Once the list of names you supply to us will be given, each name will be given a color. That color is put into the database and the database will pick a color. The supervisor will look at the color and see who is cross-referenced. That individual will be screened that day during normal business hours.”
Commission President John Humphrey said he is unaware of any drug problems within any agency of county government.
“But it’s something we’ve been thinking is the right thing to do for some time,” he said of the impending tests, “especially for ones that are in county vehicles, driving regularly out on the highways. We think it’s the right thing to do — randomly drug test our employees. Today, we took forward the step to make that happen.”
Under random testing, some employees might submit a urine sample once a month, others could be tested twice monthly, Collins said.
“A good way to look at it is like bingo,” he said. “You constantly turn the system and a number comes up.”
Collins said his firm performs about 18,000 screens a month, but Raleigh County marks the first county to sign on with him.
OxyContin, known in common vernacular as “hillbilly heroin,” appears most frequently, followed by marijuana and cocaine, Collins told reporters afterward.
Collins makes no judgment when screens are positive, but merely turns over the results to the county or other entity the non-profit company serves.
“It’s up to the county or head of a department to determine what to do with it,” he said. “Each entity has a drug policy. We follow that. Every time we screen, we report.”
Collins acknowledged that some persons examined will show the use of prescription drugs, but the lab director or medical officer can ascertain if the medication is being abused or misused.
Sheriff Steve Tanner told the commission he wants all of his deputies tested at least once in the first year at random, then again if probable cause demands another check.
“We’re satisfied with the random system but we’d like to be established by testing everybody at least once in a fiscal or calendar year,” the sheriff said.
“After they’ve been tested once, then we’re happy with the random system.”
Moreover, Tanner said he would insist on strict supervision, a condition that isn’t imposed on other employee testing unless probable cause surfaces.
Given its unique position in the frame of county government, Tanner said he would make sure the restroom is checked immediately before and after a test to “assure that it is a true and accurate sample from that individual.”
“We have created a drug testing program with the DRCs, to help support the program financially as we grow,” Collins said.
“It’s a self-funding mechanism designed to support county programs.”

By Mannix Porterfield E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com
http://www.register-herald.com/local/x519114006/Raleigh-commission-OKs-drug-testing-of-all-county-employees