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As more Americans fail drug tests, employers turn to refugees
CNN ^ | Mar. 27, 2017 | Dan Lieberman

Posted on 03/28/2017 5:18:42 AM PDT by rickmichaels

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: cannabis; marijuana; pot; wod
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1 posted on 03/28/2017 5:18:42 AM PDT by rickmichaels
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To: rickmichaels
""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." "

LOL! That is a Lie.

2 posted on 03/28/2017 5:22:00 AM PDT by KC_Lion ("We must put our citizens first. Only then will we Make America Great Again."- Donald Trump)
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To: rickmichaels

It is a factual story. Go ask Home Depot about their program of random selection, and how many folks end up getting let-go. If we had drug testing within law-enforcement across the nation...we’d probably be letting 5-percent go every year. Go ask your Congressman to do a random drug test twice a year...wanna take a guess that he’ll refuse?


3 posted on 03/28/2017 5:23:29 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: rickmichaels

Even at my lowest and darkest points in my life, I never touched an illegal substance .


4 posted on 03/28/2017 5:23:51 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: rickmichaels

It IS a problem, as is morality in general.

And the cause is liberalism. These nasty immoral things are the only “choices” they like people to make.


5 posted on 03/28/2017 5:24:06 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: pepsionice

It’s primarily pot

The most innocuous of all intoxicants

Not risk free admittedly but less dangerous than alcohol and pills and powder

But it lasts longest for drug test

Kind of natures cruel trick


6 posted on 03/28/2017 5:25:58 AM PDT by wardaddy (We're gonna have to kill a lot of them eventually which is hard to fathom)
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To: rickmichaels
The Obama legacy
7 posted on 03/28/2017 5:28:07 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob
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To: rickmichaels

I didn’t see the name of the company mentioned. No matter. They are in violation of Federal Law. Send ICE to them for a visit.


8 posted on 03/28/2017 5:49:04 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Good judgement comes from experience. And experience? Well, that comes from poor judgement.)
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To: pepsionice

I talked to the HR manager of a rural plant that makes industrial filters. She said that 63% of applicants were failing the drug test.


9 posted on 03/28/2017 5:52:38 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: rickmichaels
My son -in-law applied for a job at the Electric company. He doesn't do drugs,smoke,and barley drinks. He also has a valid drivers license. About 10 ten days later he started work at 17 dollars an hour.
10 posted on 03/28/2017 5:53:58 AM PDT by 4yearlurker (When a old person dies,it's like a small library burning down.)
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To: rickmichaels

Trying to soften us up.

You day is past and your playbook is trash.

Get over it MSM...nobody pays attention to you anymore.


11 posted on 03/28/2017 6:05:48 AM PDT by x1stcav (Leftism is like rust: It corrodes 24 hours a day until eradicated.)
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To: 4yearlurker
Tell him to keep his nose clean and he'll be able to punch his own ticket.

Drugs are, by far, the biggest disqualifier in many of the places I've worked. And - contrary to what some are posting, it's not pot. Mostly prescription drugs, mostly opiates and happy pills.

I worked with one person who took Xanax by the handful. Never, ever got near a car with her driving.

12 posted on 03/28/2017 6:29:16 AM PDT by wbill
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To: rickmichaels

I’d say it’s just as likely that the problem is that they’re paying “$8 to $14 an hour” for factory work. You can walk into a Sheetz or Turkey Hill convenience store and be a cashier for $9.50, and nobody’s going to hand you a blowtorch and start yelling at you to move faster.


13 posted on 03/28/2017 6:39:18 AM PDT by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: rickmichaels
Another ridiculous excuse to not hire Americans.

Pay more and you will get a better quality candidate. this story is globalist hog wash.

14 posted on 03/28/2017 6:41:48 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: jiggyboy

It’s amazing how many Freepers fall for this globalist agitprop.


15 posted on 03/28/2017 6:43:59 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: rickmichaels

CNN wants us to think all American workers are high on drugs. They’re full of s***.


16 posted on 03/28/2017 6:44:55 AM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: KC_Lion

Yeah, you don’t know anything about all those poppy fields and heroin factories.


17 posted on 03/28/2017 6:52:03 AM PDT by GailA (Ret. SCPO wife: suck it up buttercups it's President Donald Trump!)
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To: pepsionice

Same goes for NFL http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-nfls-secret-drug-problem-20121127 I’ve seen newer ones, but data is not changed much. Bet if you drug tested docs you’d find a high percentage are addicts too. As well as politician, LEO, etc.

My eldest is a manger, when a higher up hires before the drug test comes back, he’s the one to fire the person, and he does so in a heartbeat. Meth users are the easiest to spot, look at their faces and teeth.


18 posted on 03/28/2017 6:57:14 AM PDT by GailA (Ret. SCPO wife: suck it up buttercups it's President Donald Trump!)
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To: rickmichaels

They failed to mention the tax breaks - “employer tax credits and training incentives are available in many cases.” http://www.refugeesinpa.org/employingrefugees/whyhirearefugee/index.htm

Between paying low wages and getting tax credits + government paid training, those refugees are practically free to the employer.

Why doesn’t PA spend that money instead on a massive advertising campaign saying “Want a job? STOP DOING DRUGS”. I don’t deny that getting people who can pass a drug test can be difficult, but a lot of people who apply don’t seem to realize that the drug tests are required.

It also doesn’t help much that many Emergency Rooms hand out addictive painkillers like they are candy. Not that I’ve had THAT much experience with them, but every time we (adults in my family) are there, they give us prescriptions for addictive painkillers. I just don’t fill them. When I did (not knowing what they were) and took just one, I put them away as they were just too weird.


19 posted on 03/28/2017 7:08:08 AM PDT by Kay Ludlow (Government actions ALWAYS have unintended consequences...)
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To: wbill

Sounds like my estranged DIL. Xanax, MMJ hooked. When ACA mandated a 75% drop in legal opioids suicides started climbing in the Chronic Pain Population 1.33 Million and climbing. Most of the stats are FAKE, major cause of OD’s are illegal street drugs laced with real or fake Fenyatal. A few are script drugs, that some idiot used booze with or other illegal substances with. Xanax is not on the reduction list. 3 of the most scripted Peripheral Neuropathy drugs are, and some seizure meds. Lyrica and Neurotin are MORE addictive than Heroin. Yet the FDA expands their usage while the DEA shuts it down.

There are 1.33 Million people with incurable medical conditions who are now in Pain Management every month Peeing in a cup at 70 & 80 to make sure they are not taking more than they were scripted for. Opioids is their only relief from Chronic level 10 pain. Not 1 of those PM’s are a Specialist in the disease the patient has. Those specialist are afraid to prescribe for their patients, as the DEA will revoke their licenses. This mandate even includes maimed Military who will always be in physical pain from their injuries, and dying cancer patients...they might get addicted. They are DYING, why should it even be a thought that addiction might be a issue. So they die in excruciating pain. Or commit suicide to end the pain.

Those hip fracture deaths stats hide the OP drugs A-FIB deaths. That one I know about all to well. 1 low dose Fosamax and I was in the ER with A-Fib, I have an Enlarged heart with a leaky valve, and never should have been given a known A-Fib causing drug. Docs get kick backs for the newer drugs. Less so for the older ones that have less side effects.


20 posted on 03/28/2017 7:18:41 AM PDT by GailA (Ret. SCPO wife: suck it up buttercups it's President Donald Trump!)
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