# Employment drug screening.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-drug-screening/437399>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 13, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-drug-screening/437399 "2008-02-13T03:46:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-drug-screening/437399/1 "2008-02-13T03:46:34Z")

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Inspired by this thread: [Did the government drug test to join the military during Vietnam? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455435), when did drug screening, especially urine testing, become financially viable for routine testing by employers and/or law enforcement?  
I don’t think it was until well into the 1980’s, but my search skills aren’t helping me to pin it down.

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**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-drug-screening/437399/2 "2008-02-13T14:17:55Z")

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Not exactly what you ask, but it became mandatory for federal employees in Sept [1986](http://www.usda.gov/da/shmd/drugexec.htm).