I need to know exactly what drugs the New York City Fire Department
screens for when they are giving you a pre-employment medical exam.

Dear hammer1234-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

As one who has spent that past 22 years in law enforcement, I can say
that drug screening is relatively standard nation wide. Over the years
I have taken tests myself (they are not only done as a pre-employment
requirement but also on a random basis and following extended leave or
on-the-job accidents/incidents), but I have also ordered such tests
for others.

The tests screen for the following:

Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines (like Valium, Xanax), Amphetamines,
Analgesics, Antidepressants, Narcotics (Meth-Amphetamines, ecstasy,
opiates, cocaine, etc) Methanol, Phenothiazines, Isopropanol, Drug
abuse screen (this would indicate if someone had been abusing the
dosage of a legally prescribed drug for example) and Blood alcohol
test

You can read more about drug screening in general here:

ILLUSTRATED HEALTH ENCYCLOPEDIA
http://www.accessatlanta.com/shared/health/adam/ency/article/003578.html

Here is a good explanation as to how the test is conducted and what
you might expect:
http://www.accessatlanta.com/shared/health/adam/ency/article/003364.html

Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


INFORMATION SOURCES

ILLUSTRATED HEALTH ENCYCLOPEDIA
http://www.accessatlanta.com/shared/health/adam/ency/article/003578.html


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

"NEW YORK" "DRUG TESTING" FIREFIGHTERS

"NEW YORK" "DRUG SCREEN" EMPLOYMENT

---

Request for Answer Clarification by hammer1234-ga on 16 Mar 2003 13:35 PST

Thank you for your answer.  I understand testing is for the most part
standard nationwide, but do laws possibly differ state to state about
testing drugs that are legally prescribed.  Any info specific to the
fdny?  My concern was xanax.  Thanks for your time and answer.  I will
rate after your response.  Yhanks

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 16 Mar 2003 17:27 PST

Dear hammer1234-ga:

Since we agree that the standard practice is most likley the practice
in New York, I wanted to clear up the question about the prescription
drug issue as you mentioend you had a concern with regard to this.

I was unable to get an official response from FDNY or the City of New
York, so I resorted to the next best thing; I contacted FDNY
firefighters who have internet web sites directly and posed your
question to them. While they were all friendly and helpful to a
certain degree, none them gave me permission to use their names or
point you to their web sites as confirmation of any type of
information (which they are also very reluctant to provide). One of
them explained to me that because of the increased level of paranoia
in recent times, no one is eager to talk to strangers about much of
anything, much less department policy. I can understand that fear.

One of them, however, suggested you contact the testing facility
directly and offered me these phone numbers to pass on to you. He said
for you to be prepared to answer a lot of questions as they too are
paranoid about unusual inquiries:

He said “Call the Bureau of Health Services, 718-999-1938 and
718-999-1917. They perform the medical exams. I don't know which one
is more accurate but if neither of them works, you can call the main
number (718-999-2000) and try to navigate the voice mail system.”

Now, had you been willing to do this, you probably wouldn’t have come
here with your question, so in the meantime, I researched New York
legislation and found this VERY interesting law which governs the very
thing you are asking about. It is a fairly recent law designed to
protect employees or prospective employees from being discriminated
against based on LEGAL activities they do OUTSIDE of the workplace:

NEW YORK LEGAL ACTIVITIES LAW 
The exact statute nomenclature is:  (NY CLS LABOR 201- d)

“The "Legal Activities" law prohibits employers from refusing to
"hire, employ or license, or to discharge from employment or otherwise
discriminate against an individual in compensation, promotion or
terms, conditions or privileges of employment" because of his or her
participating in the following protected activities occurring during
non-working hours and away from the employer's place of business:”

Political activities 
Legal recreational activities 
Legal use of consumable products d
Membership in a union or participating in union activities

I took a look at “Legal use of consumable products, and lo and behold”
there is was:

“…The "consumable products" provision was originally designed to
protect the rights of employees who smoke on their own time, off
company premises. An employer may continue to ban smoking at the
workplace. The language of this provision is broad enough to cover the
lawful use of alcohol, and prescription drugs…”

(summary provided by:)
FRANKLIN & GRINGER, PC
http://www.frankgrin.com/articles/update.htm

Actual legal wording of the law (whic his expansive) can be found
here:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcode.pl?&type=srchres&case=/data/ny/code/claws/54/9.htm&law=54&art=9&frame=right2

I hope this answers your question more completely.

Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga