With many reports about the prevalence of drug abuse among miners, the organisation responsible for ensuring that acceptable safety and health standards are established and practised within the mining industry is now calling for the development of better drug testing methods to combat the problem, according to a report by Asleigh Stevenson for ABC.
The need for better drug testing methods
The Queensland Mines Inspectorate is demanding better drug testing methods mainly because standard drug testing are proving to be ineffective in detecting synthetic drug use, which has remained a major problem in the mining industry.
According to Mines Inspectorate acting commissioner Paul Harrison, dealing with synthetic drugs is becoming harder because as soon as one testing method becomes effective at detecting synthetic drug use, another version of the synthetic drug in question becomes available in the market rather quickly.
Considering the danger posed by these synthetic drugs, authorities need more than just better and more intensified drug testing efforts to deal with the problem. They must also step up their campaign against the people and organisations that produce or sell these drugs, because the problem could only get bigger if they do anything less.
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