Pittsburgh Local Agrees to Random Drug Testing

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh's firefighters have agreed to random drug testing for the first time in city history, as part of a policy in which firefighters can be fired for a second drug offense.

The testing agreement was announced Monday as part of a new five-year contract approved by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1 on Friday.

Under the new policy, firefighters who fail a drug test will be place on a "last chance agreement" under which they can be fired for a second failed drug test. The decision on whether to fire firefighters over a drug test will also be handled by neutral arbiters instead of a trial board consisting of three other firefighters.

The trial boards will still be used to review possible firings for other offenses.

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Permalink Reply by Oldman on October 28, 2009 at 11:08am

"the use of drugs are not a violent crime, and take no immediate effect on other people"

Andrew, the key word is crime. I at one time (many years ago) thought the same as you about what we do in our own time, and it wasn't affecting anybody else. However, a big issue now is the potency of even marijuana is hundreds of times stronger than it was in the seventies. Science has proven that effects of even one marijuana cigarette can take 48 hours to clear.

Now I'm not going to preach about the dangers of drugs, but I found this article this morning which may illustrate how drugs do affect others, and how it could have affected the lives of not only his crew members, but also the citizens he was trying to protect.

There is a big problem, not only in Pittsburgh, but in the fire service as a whole. My examples in an earlier reply were just recent headlines. These kinds of actions taken by brothers and sisters affects us all whether we are personally involved or not.

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?id=66358&s...