VA drug screening

Question:

Can a VA doctor do a drug screen on a person without their consent or knowledge?

Jim's Reply:

Yes. And no. Since the results of drug screening may be controversial to the person being tested in the same way that an HIV or VDRL test may contain sensitive information, guidelines generally dictate that informed consent should be given before drug screening. VA guidelines suggest that veterans who are being drug screened must be informed of that. On the other hand, drug screening isn't done at VA to determine a penalty, it's done because drug abuse is a very serious issue in the veteran community. Much like hepatitis or diabetes, substance abuse is an illness that can and should be treated and a drug screen is just another lab test used to treat a disease. Many vets fear loss of benefits or other disastrous consequences from a positive drug screen and that isn't the case at your VA. If you test positive for marijuana, you may not hear anything from anyone since VA doesn't care if you smoke weed. If you test positive for other illicit drugs, you may be offered treatment...nothing else will happen.