AccuDiagnostics

University of California

California State University, Fresno’s Association Board of Directors is inching toward implementing a new policy to conduct random drug testing for auxiliary services employees starting New Year’s Day.

In an e-mail interview with The Collegian, executive director of auxiliary services Debbie Adishian-Astone said the association’s human resource office presented the proposal to the board of directors at the Sept. 29 meeting as part of the update for the employee handbook.

Adishian-Astone said that the random drug testing policy would ensure the safety and security of our employees and the campus community which we serve.

The association manages the on-campus auxiliary services commercial operations, benefiting Fresno State students, faculty and staff. Operations include the Kennel Bookstore, Student Recreation Center, University Dining Services, University Courtyard and University Student Union.

Testing options would vary depending on different circumstances, Adishian-Astone said. Pre-employment drug testing, testing based on reasonable suspicion and testing based on a work-related injury, would be included in the association’s drug and alcohol policy and apply to all auxiliary services employees. Random drug testing would only apply to those employees working in safety-sensitive positions, Adishian-Astone said.

A safety-sensitive position is one that involves the operation of equipment, driving vehicles, handling food or any other type of situation that presents danger of bodily injury or life threatening danger to the employee or others, Adishian-Astone explained.

Alex Garcia, chair of the USU board of directors, is a student representative on the association board and said that a random drug testing policy could be beneficial.

Garcia, who had to take a random drug test for a restaurant job in high school, said he understands the importance of drug testing, especially in the food service industry.

“It is important because [dining services] provides food services to the students,” Garcia said. “Not only would the quality of food be decreased if someone were doing drugs, messing around on the job, but also they would put themselves in danger.”

Garcia agrees that only employees in safety-sensitive positions should be subject to the random testing.

“If [random drug testing] were for all employees, I almost see it as kind of a waste of money, because it does cost money to run those drug tests and have them analyzed,” Garcia said. “It may be a preventative tool, but not necessarily for the students who sit at a desk for five hours.”

Sophomore Deirdre Bayne said she isn’t concerned about drug testing when it comes to her job at the Student Recreation Center. “I don’t care,” she said. “I don’t do drugs.”

Bayne, however, said she can understand why the association would propose a drug testing policy for its employees.

“If you’re paying someone to work for you and they’re not having the right state of mind then they shouldn’t be working for you,” she said of workers intoxicated on the job. “You’re just wasting your money because they’re not doing their job right.”

As a Chick-fil-A employee, Melissa Orgon would be among those subject to random testing should the policy go through. She said it might affect some workers, but she’s not worried about it jeopardizing her own job.

“It doesn’t affect me,” Orgon said. “I don’t do drugs.”

The board will vote whether to approve the policy on Dec. 8. If the policy is approved, it will go into effect this January, Adishian-Astone said.

Thanks to Kristin Berquest@Collegian.com for the use of this article.

Signs Of Stress

Stress, a new study has said, can precipitate a low mood leading to relapse in cocaine seeking.

The research team from University of Washington (UW) has shown that stress evoked changes in circuits, which regulated serotonin in certain parts of the brain that precipitates a low mood and a relapse in cocaine-seeking.

“The impetus for this research was our interest in how stress alters the brain’s cell receptors and protein signals in ways that lead to mood changes, depression, anxiety, and drug seeking,” said Dr. Michael Bruchas, acting instructor of pharmacology at the University of Washington (UW).

“Stress appears to be a motivator for the relapse in drug seeking,” said researcher Dr. Benjamin Land, a former UW doctoral student now in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University.

“They feel crummy so they go where there might be something that will make them feel okay again,” Land added.

They head to a spot that had the drug available in the past, an action researchers call cocaine place preference.

It is believed that drug seeking is regulated by dopamine, a chemical nerve signal associated with motivating and rewarding behaviour.

Dopamine may still have a key role, the researchers noted, which is why they were surprised to find harmful effects of stress converging in a brain region- the dorsal raphe nucleus –where nerve cells that use serotonin, a chemical nerve signal that has been associated with wake and sleep cycles, mood, anger, status and aggression, are abundant.

These nerve cells also project to other structures found on either side of the brain – the nucleus accumbens – which are thought to play roles in feeding and drug addiction.

The researchers revealed that the dynorphin/kappa opioid system, found in certain brain cells, can be activated either through repeated stress or by giving a chemical that triggers a receptor on the cells. Activation of this system produces what is called conditioned place aversion in mice. They avoid smells, locations or tactile sensations similar to those present during a troubling experience.

Research suggests that this response is mediated by the stress-evoked release of dynorphins, the “feel bad” brain signals.

Scientists had previously proposed that an activated dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor system stopped the release of dopamine and thereby made the mice feel miserable enough to cause aversions.

When scientists inactivated the kappa opioid receptors involved in the serotonin system they were able to block both the aversive responses and the stress-induced reinstatement of cocaine-place preference.

The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lawmakers in at least eight states want recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing.
The effort comes as more Americans turn to these safety nets to ride out the recession. Poverty and civil liberties advocates fear the strategy could backfire, discouraging some people from seeking financial aid and making already desperate situations worse.

Those in favor of the drug tests say they are motivated out of a concern for their constituents’ health and ability to put themselves on more solid financial footing once the economy rebounds. But proponents concede they also want to send a message: you don’t get something for nothing.

“Nobody’s being forced into these assistance programs,” said Craig Blair, a Republican in the West Virginia Legislature who has created a Web site — notwithmytaxdollars.com — that bears a bobble-headed likeness of himself advocating this position. “If so many jobs require random drug tests these days, why not these benefits?”

Blair is proposing the most comprehensive measure in the country, as it would apply to anyone applying for food stamps, unemployment compensation or the federal programs usually known as “welfare”: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Women, Infants and Children.

Lawmakers in other states are offering similar, but more modest proposals.

Earlier this year, the Kansas House of Representatives approved a measure mandating drug testing for the 14,000 or so people getting cash assistance from the state, which now goes before the state senate.
In February, the Oklahoma Senate unanimously passed a measure that would require drug testing as a condition of receiving TANF benefits, and similar bills have been introduced in Missouri and Hawaii.
A Florida senator has proposed a bill linking unemployment compensation to drug testing, and a member of Minnesota’s House of Representatives has a bill requiring drug tests of people who get public assistance under a state program there.

A January attempt in the Arizona Senate to establish such a law failed.

In the past, such efforts have been stymied by legal and cost concerns, said Christine Nelson, a program manager with the National Conference of State Legislatures. But states’ bigger fiscal crises, and the surging demand for public assistance, could change that.

“It’s an example of where you could cut costs at the expense of a segment of society that’s least able to defend themselves,” said Frank Crabtree, executive director of the West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Drug testing is not the only restriction envisioned for people receiving public assistance: a bill in the Tennessee Legislature would cap lottery winnings for recipients at $600.

There seems to be no coordinated move around the country to push these bills, and similar proposals have arisen periodically since federal welfare reform in the 1990s. But the appearance of a cluster of such proposals in the midst of the recession shows lawmakers are newly engaged about who is getting public assistance.

Particularly troubling to some policy analysts is the drive to drug test people collecting unemployment insurance, whose numbers nationwide now exceed 5.4 million, the highest total on records dating back to 1967.

“It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing to bring up during a recession,” said Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “People who are unemployed, who have lost their job, that’s a sympathetic group. Americans are tuned into that, because they’re worried they’ll be next.”

Indeed, these proposals are coming at a time when more Americans find themselves in need of public assistance.

Although the number of TANF recipients has stayed relatively stable at 3.8 million in the last year, claims for unemployment benefits and food stamps have soared.

In December, more than 31.7 million Americans were receiving food stamp benefits, compared with 27.5 million the year before.

The link between public assistance and drug testing stems from the Congressional overhaul of welfare in the 1990s, which allowed states to implement drug testing as a condition of receiving help.

But a federal court struck down a Michigan law that would have allowed for “random, suspicion less” testing, saying it violated the 4th Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure, said Liz Schott, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

At least six states — Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Virginia — tie eligibility for some public assistance to drug testing for convicted felons or parolees, according to the NCSL.