A MORE reliable form of drug testing which analyses hair instead of urine or saliva was introduced to Bermuda at a public forum yesterday.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) partnered with the Psychemedics Corporation, inventors of the patented method, to establish the practice here.

Its presence was welcomed by Health Minister Patrice Minors at a workshop at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. The Minister lauded its potential as a tool in improving the health of the community.

"Drugs are an increasing menace in our homes. They can devastate our families and tear at the fabric of all that we hold dear to us. As the Minister of Health & Family Services I am cognisant of the impact that substance abuse has on our client base and I salute any entity willing to stand up and be counted in the fight to combat drug use in Bermuda."

The Psychemedics Corporation is the world's largest patented provider of hair testing for drug abuse. The company was established 16 years ago and began offering drug testing services in 1987.

"(Drug abuse) affects ? directly or indirectly ? all of us," said Raymond C. Kubacki, Jr., the company's president and chief executive officer.

"In the workplace, productivity suffers, quality control is affected and workers' safety is jeopardised. In families, it robs our children of their youth, vitality, health and future.

"Our technology enables us to offer a personal drug history over a period of several months. Psychemedics' hair analysis has consistently proven to be more effective than urinalysis and other methods in correctly identifying drug abusers.

"In fact, when hair and urine results were compared in 'side-by-side' evaluation, five to ten times as many drug abusers were accurately identified with the Psychemedics hair test."

He explained that Psychemedics' test detects drug abuse for the previous 90 days while urinalysis will only detect a maximum of three days prior.

"Psychemedics' significantly longer testing window results in superior detection rates over urinalysis. In addition, the collection of a hair sample is easier and far less embarrassing than a urine sample." The vast difference in results was what led the BHB to partner with the American firm.

"We are excited about offering this vital service as one step in combating substance abuse on our island," BHB director of Human Resources Scott Pearman said.

"Hair follicle testing is an excellent tool for assessing drug use. It must also be followed up with prevention education programmes, rehabilitative services and community support networks."

Mrs. Minors agreed on the important role the testing will eventually play, largely because of the destruction drugs have caused to so many families here.

"Drugs are a destructive, debilitating and detrimental force in our community," she said. "Drugs disable and destroy the physical strength and metal stability of our society. They spawn social and communal ills and render untold damage each day.

"Sadly, our health care system has to absorb too much of the burden from illegal drug use. Moreover, this is something which all of us end up paying for."

Employers, she continued, had a "vested responsibility and interest to combat the use and abuse of drugs in our society "as it was in the workforce where we see the results of abuse, largely in the form of "diminished productivity and absenteeism".

"The Psychemedics Corporation's patented hair analysis method gives employers a powerful tool in their arsenal. This will go a long way to discourage employees from entering the workplace with the residual evidence of drug use and to encourage others to stay clean.

"In this way, we can arrest the diminished productivity that drug use is causing in our workplaces and have more productive and energised employees.

"I wish to encourage all employees to establish, if you have not already done so, drug policies and employee assistance programmes whose first priority it is to educate and deter employees from using drugs in the first instance. Secondly, it is my hope that those who require additional help can be directed to rehabilitative resources."

The workshop for a Drug-Free Workplace continues at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess today between 8.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. Representatives from the Psychemedics Corporation will be on hand.