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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    As more Americans fail drug tests, employers turn to refugees

    As more Americans fail drug tests, employers turn to refugees

    Story by Dan Lieberman, CNN
    Video by Matt Gannon, CNN

    Updated 9:22 AM ET, Mon March 27, 2017

    Erie, Pennsylvania (CNN)Inside a factory near this lakeside city, a man holding a blowtorch is putting the finishing touches on a plastic rain barrel that will soon make its way to a home and garden section somewhere in America.

    He is Talib Alzamel, a 45-year-old Syrian refugee who arrived here last summer with his wife and five children. He can't speak much English, but neither can most of the 40 refugees who work at Sterling Technologies, a plastic molding company based near the shores of Lake Erie. They earn $8-14 an hour.



    The refugees at Sterling come from all over the world, from Syria to Sudan, Chad to Bhutan. And they've all passed the company's standard drug test.

    "In our lives, we don't have drugs," said Alzamel, who was hired within three months after arriving in Pennsylvania. "We don't even know what they look like or how to use them."


    But for an increasing number of American-born workers, passing drug tests is a big problem.


    The percentage of American workers testing positive for illegal drugs has climbed steadily over the last three years to its highest level in a decade, according to Quest Diagnostics, which performed more than 10 million employment drug screenings last year. The increase has been fueled in part by rural America's heroin epidemic and the legalization of recreational marijuana in states like Colorado.


    With roughly half of US employers screening for drugs, failed tests have real consequences for the economy.


    More than 9% of employees tested positive for one or more drugs in oral fluid screenings in 2015, the most recent year for which data was available. And the problem is even worse at places like Sterling Technologies.


    "Twenty percent of the people are failing," said Cary Quigley, the company's president. "We're seeing positive tests anywhere from marijuana through amphetamines, right all the way through crystal meth and heroin."


    Which is why refugees like Alzamel, despite some language barriers, are quickly snapping up jobs.


    "The big factories ... they have a problem with the drugs, so like every time they fire someone, they replace him with the refugee, to be honest," said Bassam Dabbah, who works at a US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants field office in Erie. "The only barrier is the language, but they are picking it up very quick."


    'It's like the United Nations'


    The status of refugees in the US has been under scrutiny since President Donald Trump's executive orders limiting the number of immigrants to the country. On March 6, Trump signed a new order that bans immigration from six Muslim-majority nations and reinstates a temporary blanket ban on all refugees.

    But because of the increase in positive drug tests, the refugees who have reached America in recent years are finding a more welcoming hiring climate, at least for menial manufacturing jobs.


    Nearly 6,000 refugees have settled in the last five years in Louisville, Kentucky, helping companies hire workers for jobs that had gone unfilled. Methamphetamine use is so high in Louisville that the number of people testing positive for meth in workplace drug tests is 47% higher than the national average, according to Quest Diagnostics.


    Workers at White Castle in Louisville, Kentucky.

    Inside the White Castle food processing plant, where they make 50,000 hamburgers per hour, "it's become like the United Nations," says Jamie Richardson, a company vice president.

    Antigona Mehani, employment services manager at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, says she can usually find a refugee a job within three days.


    Employers tell her, "send us as many as you can," she said. "I hear this every single day."


    CNN's reporting discovered a similar dynamic in many parts of the country, from Columbus, Ohio, to Albany, New York, to a company in Indiana that supplies parts for Ford cars.


    While many employers insist that drug testing keeps the workplace safe and ensures a productive and stable work environment, there is no conclusive evidence that it's necessary for all jobs or that it lowers risks or reduces drug use.


    And workers flunking drug tests is not a new problem, said Calvina L. Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation.

    But it's a problem that is getting worse, she said.

    Fay said employers are especially concerned about the increasing failure rates in "safety sensitive" workplaces, where a lapse by a employee under the influence of drugs could cost lives.


    "They're frustrated for a number of reasons. In some cases they are having trouble hiring drug-free workers," Fay said. "They can't drug-test people every day, so there will be people who slip through the cracks."


    In Colorado, where marijuana is legal, some businesses have told Fay, "they see employees smoking pot on their lunch break and then going back to work."


    One oil and trucking company in Colorado did random drug screening last year and flunked 80% of their employees, mostly for marijuana, Fay said. Colorado's Supreme Court has ruled that companies may fire employees who smoke pot, even if legally.


    "They had to replace everyone," she said. "The employer was glad he found the problem because his employees do extremely dangerous work. He was shocked and disturbed."


    'A really good source of labor'



    Sterling Technologies in Erie, Pennsylvania.


    In the last five years, nearly 4,000 refugees have resettled in Erie, PA, a city that has struggled economically in recent decades.
    Locals say the area also is dealing with a drug epidemic.

    "'Right now around here, heroin's big, sad to say," said Sterling Technologies floor manager, Marty Learn, who has seen four or five workers in his department fail drug tests in recent months.


    "I've had no refugees fail it," he added.


    "In the Sunday newspaper there was a four- or five-page spread for employment advertisements and almost every one of them said, 'Must pass a background check and a drug screen.' So there's a lot of people who are unemployed as a result," said Amanda Milleren, a drug-addiction counselor at Cove Forge Behavioral Health System in Erie.


    Erie has lost over half its manufacturing jobs since the 1980s, says Shannon Monnat, a rural sociology professor at Penn State University. Meanwhile the city has faced rising rates of drug overdoses, alcohol-related deaths, and suicides.


    "When business owners are telling you that they can't find native residents who will do these jobs, or they can't find enough people in the community to pass a drug test, what are they to do?" said Monnat. "They need to seek out employees somewhere. And for now, immigrants are a really good source of that labor."


    Companies and staffing agencies in Erie and other cities have come to see refugee resettlement agencies as good partners to help expand the local labor pool.


    And recovering drug addicts in Erie told CNN they can see why employers have had to look elsewhere for workers.


    But some still think they deserve a second chance.


    "I know that refugees need an opportunity when they come here, and employers give them the opportunity. But people like us that live here also need an opportunity," said Bethany Kaschak, 34. "I'm not saying they don't deserve it. But we deserve it as well."


    Trump won Erie County in November, the first time it had gone for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984.


    Sterling Technology's management voted for Trump and hopes he will push for tax cuts that will allow them to reinvest in their business. But at the same time, they don't want to see their refugee-powered workforce go away.


    "Do I want to see all of my people deported?" asked Quigley, the Sterling Technologies president. "Absolutely not. They're a part of this company. They've helped build this company," he said.


    "Our goal is to continue to grow the company. We can't grow the company without people that want to do the work."

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/us/ref...-drug-testing/

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  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Senior Member Scott-in-FL's Avatar
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    This article sounds like propaganda for importing and hiring refugees. I can't believe that many Americans are drug addicts. Why apply for a job knowing you would fail a drug test?
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    America’s drug problem now 10 times worse than in 1971 — the year it declared a war on drugs

    MARCH 20, 20172:30Pfeatured video

    Pill Overkill



    MORE VIDEOS

    A look at the painkiller abuse that's now reached epidemic levels in the US, and could also be heading for Australia.


    News Corp Australia Network

    THE United States is experiencing a drug addiction crisis of rare proportions.

    An estimated 2.6 million people are hooked on prescription opioid painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone, or on heroin and fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid.

    The Straits Times reports that of the 2900 babies born last year in Cabell County, West Virginia, 500 had to be weaned off opioid dependence. So severe is the addiction in Ohio, that counties have been renting refrigerated trailers to store the mounting number of bodies of overdose victims.


    The website reports that 33,000 people died from opioid overdose in the US last year, including 10 people last Friday in Florida where Donald Trump spends a lot of his spare time.


    There are now 10 times the level of drug-related deaths than in 1971 when America first declared its war on drugs.


    Michael Jackson became addicted to painkillers after being caught in an on-stage fire in 1984. Picture: AFP/Kevin MazurSource:AFP



    Former heroin addict Courtney Love lost custody of her daughter in 2003 after claims she overdosed on painkiller OxyContin. Picture: AFP/Max NashSource:AFP



    Veteran comic Jim Carrey was sued last year for allegedly procuring drugs under a bogus name for his ex-girlfriend, who died of an overdose. Picture: AFP/Justin TallisSource:AFP


    Last week lawyer Paul Farrell filed a lawsuit for Cabell County, and neighbouring counties, seeking damages from drug companies for fuelling the addiction epidemic.

    “My community is dying on a daily basis,” Mr Farrell told straitstimes.com.


    Every sixth baby born locally suffers from neonatal abstinence syndrome, in which a mother’s addiction is passed on to her child.

    “The hospital has to rock these babies 24 hours a day as they scream their way through addiction,” he said.

    “What we’re asking for is not only to hold (the firms) responsible for blatantly violating federal and state laws, but also to fix the damage they caused, so that we stop creating another generation of addicts,” he said.


    New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a new plan to cut addiction, after the city’s overdose death toll hit 1075 last year.


    “The pharmaceutical industry for years has encouraged the overuse of addictive painkillers,” said Mr de Blasio.


    The surge in deaths follows a shift in the nature of the crisis. After the Drug Enforcement Agency last year ordered a 25 per cent cutback in the distribution of prescription opioids, addicts turned to heroin. But that drug is frequently cut with fentanyl, which has caused even more overdoses.


    “Everybody is starting to see a slowdown of prescription opiates. As you see supply drop, what we are seeing is an equal rise in heroin,” said Mr Farrell.


    “We are going to see an all-time-high transition to heroin abuse in the next five years.”


    Sue Kruczek‘s 20-year old son Nick died of an overdose. Several US states are considering legislation to create a non-opioid directive that patients can put in their medical files. Picture: Brad Horrigan/The Hartford CourantSource:AP



    SOME KEY FACTS
    How many Americans are addicted to opioids?

    In 2015, an estimated two million Americans were addicted to prescription opioid painkillers, and 591,000 to heroin. But the tightening of supplies of prescription opioids has sent many opioid addicts moving to heroin. Heroin producers and dealers in turn are increasingly cutting their drug with fentanyl, which is so potent that a minuscule amount can turn a standard heroin dose deadly.


    Four out of five heroin users started out addicted to prescription opioids. Picture: AP/Elaine ThompsonSource:AP


    How are prescription drugs and heroin use linked?
    Experts say four out of five US heroin users started with prescription opioids like oxycodone and hydrocodone. A new study ties the likelihood of addiction to the amount and strength of the opioid painkiller first prescribed by a doctor. Patients who are given a prescription lasting more than three days, or who get a second prescription, or who are prescribed longer-lasting painkillers, are significantly more likely to be using the drug a year later.

    How many people are dying from opioid overdoses?

    The latest US data show that in 2015, 33,091 people died from overdoses tied to prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl. That was up 15.5 per cent from the previous year, and four times the number of deaths in 1999. Experts say the surge continued last year.


    Prince died from an overdose of painkillers, according to reports. Picture: AFP/Robyn BeckSource:AFP


    Which states have the highest levels of overdose deaths?
    The national average for opioid overdose deaths in 2015 was 10 for every 100,000 people. In West Virginia, the figure was 41.5 per 100,000; New Hampshire, 34.3 per 100,000; Kentucky and Ohio, 29.9 per 100,000; and Rhode Island, 28.2 per 100,000. Nineteen of 50 states saw significant increases in overdose deaths that year.

    Meantime, a new cholesterol-slashing drug that has shown promise for high-risk patients does not impair brain function, according to a study out Saturday.


    Previous research had raised the possibility that evolocumab, sold under the brand name Repatha by Amgen, may have a damaging effect on memory and cognitive function.


    Evolocumab is part of a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors, which dramatically lower bad cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein (LDL).


    The drug has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and death in patients who have severely clogged arteries or previous cardiac problems.


    But it comes at a hefty price tag of more than $14,000 per year, raising concerns about how many patients could benefit.


    Repatha cuts the chances of having a heart attack or some other serious problems by 15 to 20 per cent in a big study of people at high risk for those problems. Picture: Robert Dawson/AmgenSource:AP


    Aiming to address questions about its cognitive effects, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in collaboration with Brown University and the University of Geneva ran cognitive tests on nearly 2000 people enrolled in a two-year study of the drug.

    Researchers assessed the executive function, working memory, episodic memory and psychomotor speed of patients at six, 12, and 24 months after starting treatment.


    “After an average of 19 months of treatment, our data show that changes in memory and cognitive function were very small and similar between patients treated with evolocumab and those treated with placebo,” said Robert Giugliano, a cardiac doctor at BWH.

    “These data should reassure physicians and patients who may have had questions about the safety of this drug as it pertains to cognitive impairment.” The research, funded by Amgen, was presented at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Washington.
    Full results are expected to be published in a peer-reviewed journal in the coming months.

    http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/hea...17b0a6fbc0dd37

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  5. #5
    MW
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    One oil and trucking company in Colorado did random drug screening last year and flunked 80% of their employees, mostly for marijuana, Fay said. Colorado's Supreme Court has ruled that companies may fire employees who smoke pot, even if legally.
    Just another indicator that those that want to legalize schedule 1 drugs may want to consider.

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    The article does seem very pro refugee, like they are superior. You have that bloomberg org Center for American Progress, which really dictated all this sanctuary city stuff and more - pushing for giving everything to illegal/legal immigrants - Americans drop dead (and they are from drugs), the org exists nationwide with the focus of promoting immigrants every which whey they can. Pushing all the politically correct terms and mind sets. All the politicians involved with that org are a disgrace and un-American. The list is very long too. obama made sure all the democrat mayors, governors were on board or he would have sent the irs or some form of intimidation. that is how he operated, like a thug gangster and put in power for that reason.

    They make the immigrants out to be saviours, adding to the "growth" of the population, working in rural areas while our Americans become drug addicts. Opening businesses in the inner cities where people have left for many reasons. Some of the realities which they do not mention are: lots of crime, uncivil streets with begging, people sleeping on the sidewalks & in the parks, factories closed nothing is made here in USA anymore, less & less city services for your property tax dollar. But like the phoenix rising from the ashes, massive new condos for the major cities and all the rich will move back. It is like fashion have to change your wardrobe every season, spend your money.

    Places like Erie, not as much of an economy due to less businesses/work - just like many other areas, Ohio, where plants used to be and people lived, now a crack district. Very depressing, perfect time to feed Americans drugs with free pass thru our border towns and killer drugs at that. Yet you rarely her of illegals being heroin addicts, they like there meth though. The island of Puerto Rico is riddled with heroin addicts & everyone living on our tax $$$.

    Oddly, coincidentally, while Americans are out of work, we open our borders wide to legal and illegal immigrants. Our borders have been open for 16 yrs and the cartels are now in every city, town across America. One has to wonder if aside from the money, the plan was to destroy Americans and import more legal/illegal immigrants that will for a while, work for less and allow illegals to go on year after year working jobs here, producing anchor babies for free so they can cry all the separating family stuff. Center for American Progress says give all illegals citizenship; they contributed blah-blah-blah.

    There is definitely a shift to mass immigration yet we have millions of Americans unemployed - why bring them in? Replace us with those that are not concerned about pollution, quality of life, and especially lower wages. Europe has done the same thing - this is a globalist based agenda, using hispanics and muslims to overtake countries. They want overpopulation for the consumers $$$$ and the need for more of everything and eventually the taxes if and when they get off the dole.
    Last edited by artist; 03-27-2017 at 08:21 PM.

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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    NO AMNESTY

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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Oh this is all bunk. Good grief. This is just more crap lies from the pro-immigration, pro-refugee, pro-growth by population creeps who have destroyed our nation, put 94 million people out of the work force and our government $20 trillion in debt. No mention of accidents, no mention of poor workmanship, no mention of any actual problem with the American Workers. Just some phony drug test that tells you nothing relevant to actual performance on the job.

    While many employers insist that drug testing keeps the workplace safe and ensures a productive and stable work environment, there is no conclusive evidence that it's necessary for all jobs or that it lowers risks or reduces drug use.
    They say they pay $8 to $14 an hour. Well, if you're in the $8 job, you're earning $16,000 a year if you work 40 hours, 50 weeks a year. That's about $1,300 a month before taxes and insurance if they offer it. That's a working poor wage, even in Erie, PA. That's person under enormous stress.

    Drug testing is a pious-framed scam against American Workers and frankly should be barred as an invasion of a worker's personal privacy. If you can't tell, then you've no right to know. If there is no visible sign of impairment, no visible sign of poor performance, then you have no right whatsoever to test anyone for anything.
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    Drug Testing - Workplace Fairness

    www.workplacefairness.org/drug-testing-workplace
    Yes. Federal, state and private employees are all subject to drug testing. ... Many private employers require that their employees undergo drug testing. State and local laws vary in the way that they protect private employees' privacy.
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  10. #10
    MW
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    Judy wrote (excerpt):

    Drug testing is a pious-framed scam against American Workers and frankly should be barred as an invasion of a worker's personal privacy. If you can't tell, then you've no right to know. If there is no visible sign of impairment, no visible sign of poor performance, then you have no right whatsoever to test anyone for anything.
    I would certainly disagree with you on this. What about a company's right to have a safe, productive, and efficient work environment. If you don't like the job requirements, don't accept the job!

    Pot and crack heads will get no sympathy from me. I was subject to testing four times a year for over 20 years. Heck, I also support drug testing for those on welfare. If you don't want to be tested, get a job that doesn't require it. And if you want taxpayers to subsidize your livelihood, don't do drugs!

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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