Boeing to Begin Drug Screening for Prospective Workers

The Boeing Co. announced today it will start screening prospective employees for drug use and left open whether it will give similar tests to its current workers.

The aerospace company said it has no plans to test current employees, who number 114,000 nationwide, but “it’s certainly an open question for the future,” Boeing spokesman Lee Lathrop said.

The new policy, Lathrop said, was prompted “by a desire to try and make our work place as drug-free as possible.”

“It isn’t a reaction to the President’s call (for a war on drugs),” Lathrop said. “We’ve been studying this longer than that.”

The company’s research shows that 80% of the Fortune 500 companies either have or will soon have pre-employment tests, the Boeing spokesman said.