The Drug Policy Alliance has worked steadfastly on behalf of Ohioans throughout the 2003-2004 state legislative session to combat three harmful bills introduced there – including two that involve mandatory drug testing. Under the leadership of former state legislator Edward Orlett, the Alliance’s representative in Ohio, we lost a good fight against a bill that will require drug testing of injured workers, beat back (for now) a drugged-driving bill, and continue our fight against a prescription-drug monitoring bill.

Workers’ Compensation and Drug Testing

HB 223 will make injured-worker benefits contingent on passing a drug test. In the name of safety, the bill denies benefits to employees and strips them of due-process rights.

The bill will deny workers' compensation benefits (workers’ comp) to any injured Ohio worker who tests positive for any drug within thirty-two hours of the injury under any number of justifications, none of which are clearly defined in the bill. Injured workers who refuse the test will also be stripped of their workers’ comp rights.

Orlett spoke out against the bill before the legislature on behalf of the Alliance. He pointed out that the bill violates state and federal constitutional rights of privacy and equal protection and that drug testing may determine drug use – but not impairment. Unfortunately, HB 223 is now law.

Drugged-Driving and Drug Testing

SB 215 would prohibit a motorist from driving with any detectable amount of a drug in their system. The bill is modeled on one that is being considered by the U.S. Congress this year.

SB 215 would not make Ohio roads safer because it does not create a system for testing for impaired driving. Rather, it will be used to cast a wide net on people who, for example, smoked marijuana on a Saturday and drove completely sober the following Wednesday. Marijuana users would be most adversely affected, since marijuana metabolites can stay in the bloodstream for up to several weeks. One other area of concern with SB 215 is who would pay for roadside and other drug testing, which could add millions of dollars to the state budget.

The Alliance was successful in knocking SB 215 off the Senate’s hearing agenda this spring. The bill will most likely not surface again until November.  Orlett is currently working to inform members of the news media about the bill in anticipation of its possible return to the legislative agenda.

Prescription Drug Monitoring

While supposedly focusing on the important issue of prescription drug abuse, HB 377 would undermine medical privacy and make doctors less likely to prescribe effective pain medication to Ohioans in need, increasing pain and suffering for many. What’s more, the database – pushed on states by the Bush administration – could eventually make public individuals’ private medical information.

The punitive law-enforcement approach to the problem of drug abuse pushed by HB 377 does not work – whether it's the abuse of prescription, over-the-counter, or other drugs. People with substance abuse problems should get help, not prison, and the government should stop undermining medical privacy and other civil liberties in the name of the “war on drugs.”

HB 377 has passed the House and is currently before the Senate Health Committee.