Syndicated regional news service Väli-Suomen Media polled a hundred of Finland's largest companies in terms of sales. Ninety-nine responded to the survey. The results indicate that the use of drug tests in the business world has skyrocketed in the past few years.
Antti Leinonen, the technical director of one of Finland's leading testing labs, Yhtyneet Laboratoriot, says that his experience backs up the conclusion of the poll. He estimates that around 75,000 workplace drug tests are done each year in Finland.
But drug testing is not totally reliable. The news service says that most positive results for drug tests are caused by perfectly legal drugs, such as sleeping pills, anti-depressants, and other psychiatric medicines. Even painkillers and cough medicines can cause false positives.
Workplace drug tests are regulated by Finnish law. Companies do not have the right to test current employees without suspicion of drug use. Most companies do their testing in the recruitment process.