Drug testing lab ensures abuse policies not ignored

  • Published
  • By Nick Stubbs
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  New Air Force drug and substance abuse policies now in place provide a unified rule for Airmen to follow, and the 6th Air Mobility Wing's Drug Testing lab is there to keep everyone honest.

While the procedures and policies at the lab have not been changed, new rules and regulations may be forthcoming as a way of dealing with the challenges presented by more and more natural and synthetic drugs and substances showing up in society.

"We expecting new AFIs (Air Force Instructions) soon," said Earl Holden, 6 AMW drug testing program administrative manager. Until then, the testing procedures and thresholds for what qualifies as a violation of the abuse policy, will continue as normal.

"We don't have a pass-fail test," said Mr. Holden. "It isn't like what some companies use."

"If a person attends a Jimmy Buffett concert and people around them are smoking marijuana, they could test for a trace amount of it," Mr. Holden said. "We have quantitative and qualitative testing to allow for that."

What that means is that if a person is found to have a small amount of a banned substance in their system, they are subjected to additional testing to determine if they used the substance, or if they were merely exposed to it.

"There has to be a certain amount in the system," said Mr. Holden, who added the tests are thorough and accurate, which means various myths about tests falsely identifying people, such as testing positive for heroine use after eating poppy seed rolls, "doesn't reflect reality."

Likewise, anyone with the notion that they can fool a drug test, should think twice, said Mr. Holden. In addition to being very thorough, the tests are random and any servicemember could be tested at any time.

Another persistent myth is that batches of urine samples are tested together and that if a banned substance is detected all of the people in the batch are retested to single out the bad apple.

"That's not how it's done," he said. "Each bottle is tested individually," and the regimen is tireless.

"The Air Force tests 70,000 samples a month on average," said Mr. Holden.