Opiate screening ahead for truckers

Four of the most abused opiates — oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone and hydrocodone — will be included in commercial drivers’ drug screenings beginning Jan. 1, the Department of Transportation said Monday.

Until now, transportation companies have not been federally required to screen drivers and other operators of these drugs in urine tests, leaving some companies to screen them on their own.

The Department of Transportation said at the beginning of the year it would adopt the screening policy of the Department of Health and Human Services, which amended its policy to include the four drugs.

“The revision of the drug-testing panel harmonizes DOT regulations with the revised HHS Mandatory Guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Federal drug-testing programs for urine testing,” the Department of Transportation said in a notice posted in the Federal Register.

— Dalton LaFerney