FEATURED ARTICLE

Marijuana Use Among Workers Hits a New High

Nearly 20% of workers in the general U.S. workforce tested positive for drug use in 2025, compared to 13.1 % in 2021, an increase of nearly 46%, according to the most-recent report from Quest Diagnostics, which performs drug tests yearly. 

The 20% figure includes all-drug positivity - the share of hair tests positive for any drug (marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamines, etc.) The increase in marijuana use over the past five years is striking:

• Marijuana hair-test positivity: 9.5% (2021) ’ 15.1% (2025), up 58.9%
• Pre-employment hair-test marijuana positivity: 10.1% ’ 15.1%, up 49.5%
• Random hair-test marijuana positivity: 18.3% ’ 21.0%, up 14.8%
• Marijuana accounted for 52.5% of all hair-test drug positives in 2025 — the release explicitly calls it “the primary driver of positive drug tests across all specimen types and workforce segments”
• Urine-test marijuana positivity: 4.4%; oral fluid: 11.1%; hair: 15.1%
•  Cocaine (up 48.1%), amphetamines (up 27.8%) and methamphetamine (up 19.0%) all rose too between 2021-2025

Quest conducted about eight million workforce drug tests in 2025. “The findings suggest that a sizeable minority of the American workforce uses drugs, principally marijuana, on a recurring or chronic basis. While traditional urine testing methods only capture drug use within a window of several hours or days, hair analysis provides an extended detection window that delivers a long-term history of substance use patterns over extended periods, offering insights into ongoing drug use behaviors,” Quest says.

The company uses hair and oral fluid testing methods which are substantially more resistant to tampering or substitution than urine testing. Quest says it has detected that some U.S. workers are going to great lengths to attempt to subvert the drug testing process.

“Hair and oral fluid testing capture different windows of use.  This gives employers more accurate insight into safety risks,” said Jason S. Hudson, PhD, Scientific Director and Laboratory Director, Workforce Solutions, for Quest Diagnostics. “That matters because substance use in the workplace doesn’t just affect productivity; it can directly impact safety, decision-making, and the well-being of employees, particularly in safety-sensitive roles where even small lapses can have serious consequences.”

Industry-level data shows drug-positive rates remained elevated in sectors such as Retail Trade (5.4%), and Professional and Technical Services (5.3%), while lower rates were observed in Manufacturing (4.2%) and Transportation and Warehousing (4.2%).

In 2025, overall drug-positivity in the healthcare sector reached 5.8%, the highest among all sectors, and an increase of nearly 14% compared to five years ago. This trend was driven by marijuana, which remained the most commonly detected positive substance (2.9% in 2021 vs. 4.2% in 2025), followed by amphetamines (1.5% in 2021 vs. 2.3% in 2025).