Federally regulated drug testing started in 1989 when the Department of Transportation put into place its drug and alcohol testing program for covered workers. At the start of the DOT regulated drug testing program, 18 % of American truck drivers drug tested positive, with cocaine, marijuana or amphetamines in their urine.
Since then with implementation of strict regulations the rate of positive drug tests has gone down tremendously. In 1998, 5% of pre employment drug tests were positive for illicit drugs, and for those employees in random drug testing programs, the positive drug test rate was less than 2%. In the FAA program, the positive drug test rate fell to less than 1%.