Halfway House Drug Testing, Essay Example

While all residents of the halfway house are expected to refrain from using drugs and alcohol during their stay, not all residents will necessarily be subject to mandatory random testing as a condition of their release. Some residents will be participating in drug treatment programs which also mandate regular or random drug testing regimens. The halfway house will coordinate its drug testing protocols with the county probation supervision offices. In order to minimize the financial impact of implementing drug testing at the halfway house, residents who are already subject to regular or random testing through under the conditions of their probation, parole, or drug treatment programs will be exempted from the in-house testing regimens. To ensure fairness, the remaining residents will be selected for drug testing according to a random system, and will also be subject to testing for cause of house supervisors or other officials suspect they may have used drugs or alcohol.

For general testing, inexpensive 5-panel tests that detect the presence of common illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, opiates, benzodiazepines, and methamphetamine will be used. Positive tests will be secured under standardized procedures and sent to an approved laboratory facility for confirmation testing. Residents who test positive for drug use will generally be referred to drug treatment programs for a first violation; three or more positive tests in a 12-month period will result in mandatory return to confinement or referral to the Board of Probation and Parole. The relative success of the drug testing regimen will be assessed at regular intervals, such as 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months, to determine whether the number of positive drug tests goes down, stays the same, or increases.