If you’re a recreational drug user or a medical marijuana user, it stands to reason that you would prefer to avoid drug tests as much as possible. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you learn how to find out if a company drug tests.
With so many companies carrying out drug tests these days, it can be a headache trying to figure out where you should focus your job search efforts.
Some companies will carry out pre-hire drug tests, with drug tests being rare after that.
While other companies will employ the full range of drug testing options, requiring random drug testing, reasonable cause drug testing, and post-accident drug testing.
And then there are the companies that don’t drug test at all.
How To Find Out If A Company Drug Tests – The Most Direct Route
The most direct way to find out if a company drug test is to ask the employer or ask someone who already works there.
Obviously, it’s not a good idea to approach an employer like yourself. So don’t make contact using your own name, phone number, or email address.
You can be a little sneaky and say you have a condition that requires medication and you’re concerned that a drug test would disqualify you.
They will either ignore your message, or they’ll tell you that they do or don’t drug test.
The other way is to get a friend or relative to go to the company location and ask people as they leave work for the day.
If it’s a store or restaurant, you could even visit a location in the next town and ask yourself.
How To Find Out If Companies Drug Tests? – Research the Industry
Some industries have drug tests because the law requires them. Companies operating in these industries will always drug test.
For example, Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations cover truck drivers and certain other transportation workers, and those regulations mandate drug testing.
DOT regulations explicitly list the following occupations:
- Drivers of commercial motor vehicles where the weight of the vehicle is over 26,001 pounds or the vehicle are able to carry more than 16 people, or the vehicle carries hazardous materials.
- Railway workers, including those involved in driving trains, signalmen, dispatchers, utility workers, and railroad construction and maintenance workers.
- Airport and airline employees, including pilots and flight crew, maintenance workers, ground crew, dispatchers, air traffic controllers, and security workers.
- Federal Transit Administration vehicle operators, maintenance workers, control, security, or dispatch workers.
- Gas and oil pipeline workers.
- Mariners and employees on vessels operated under a license, certificate of registry, or merchant mariners document.
Other occupations where drug testing is required include police officers, emergency service personnel (fire, paramedic, etc.), and military personnel.
Companies involved with Department of Defense work are also required to drug test employees.
And workers in the medical industry and construction workers are two other groups that are commonly subject to drug testing.
On the other end of the spectrum, tech companies are known for not testing applicants and employees.
Look Up Job Listings On Job Websites
Often you’ll find drug testing requirements included on a job listing. This isn’t always the case, but it’s a good place to do some company research.
When you want to find out if a company drug tests job applicants, head over to job sites like Indeed, Monster, Glass Door, or Zip Recruiter.
Then search for jobs with that company and look through some of the listings.
If you find passing a drug test listed as a hiring condition in their job detail information, then you have your answer.
But if the company doesn’t make any mention of drug testing, you need to continue your sleuthing.
Use the Questions & Answers Section On Indeed
We’ve already mentioned Indeed as a job search website, but you can also find out lots of information about a company by using their question and answer section.
Here’s how to find out if a company drug tests on Indeed.
Go to indeed.com/companies and enter the name of the company you want to get drug testing information on.
Then, select the company from the search results page.
Next, click on “Q & A” on the menu.
Finally, choose “Drug Test” from the popular topics section, to see what current and previous employees have to say about the drug testing policy.
You may get conflicting answers. There are a couple of reasons for this.
- Drug testing policies change, and tests may not be required now, although they were a few years ago. So make sure you look at the dates on people’s responses to get the most recent information.
- Some positions in a company may not require a drug test, while others do. Read through multiple listings and take note of any positions mentioned where they do or do not test.
Check The Company Job Portal
If the company has an online jobs portal, you may be able to find information about their drug testing policy.
Some companies will list drug testing and background check information where you can easily find it. For others, you may find it buried in the terms and conditions.
And you can always run through their application using dummy information. Then, near the end, you’ll usually see the consent and release section that you need to complete to finalize the application. If a company drug tests, they will normally include the drug test consent information in that part.
Sorting through applications and conducting interviews costs companies time and money. It’s not in their interest to go all the way through the interview process with a candidate, only to have them drop out once they find out that a drug test is required. This is why many employers inform you about drug testing during your initial application.
Search Google
How many times have you asked a question in an online group, and instead of answering your question, some smart Alec pipes up with “Google is your friend?”
Well, Google isn’t really anyone’s friend, but it can sometimes turn up the information you need.
So a simple search for “does company ABC drug test?” could produce the answer to your question.
In fact, for larger companies, a Google search (or a search on Bing, Qwant, Swiss Cows, DuckDuckGo, etc.) will almost certainly give you an answer. But for smaller companies, the information may not have been shared online yet, so a search engine can’t bring it up for you.
Get A Copy Of the Employee Handbook
Employee handbooks list the company policies that employees have to follow. If you can get your hands on an employee handbook, you’ll be able to read exactly what the drug testing policy says.
Employee handbooks aren’t the easiest things to get hold of, but here are a few things you can try.
- Contact the company, express an interest in working for them and ask for an employee handbook so you can review their policies.
- Search on Google for “company name” employee handbook, or “company name” employee handbook pdf.
- Search on Scribd for “company name” employee handbook.
- Ask on Reddit for a copy of the employee handbook.
- Post a task on Reddit r/slavelabour and get someone to find the employee handbook for you (see next section).
How To Tell If A Company Drug Test By Using Reddit
Reddit is a great place to find answers about almost anything.
If you haven’t used Reddit before, it can be a little confusing at first. Basically, everything is organized in subreddits, which are really just topics or categories.
And one of the subreddits may have the answer to your question.
How To Search Reddit For Company Drug Testing Information
Start by going to reddit.com.
To find out if a company drug test, just type “does company ABC drug test?” into the search bar. Obviously replace “company ABC” with the name of the company you want to know about.
Then, you’ll see a list of results full of questions about drug testing at that company. You can sort the results by the last year, last month, last week, or last day, to get the newest responses.
The bigger the company, the more questions you’ll see asked and those questions will often be very specific.
For example, a search for “does Walmart drug test” brings up questions like:
- Does Walmart drug test supply chain workers?
- Does Walmart drug test for the cap-2 position?
- Does Walmart drug test for stocking positions?
And on it goes.
For a big company like Walmart, you’ll find hundreds and hundreds of questions and answers about the drug testing policy.
If it’s a smaller company, though, you might not be able to find out much information at all. You can also use this website (hirefelonsjobs.org) to find out all the companies that don’t do drug tests as well as those that do. Use the search button to get a quick answer.
How To Ask Reddit About Company Drug Tests
Another way to use Reddit is by asking a question in your town or city subreddit.
You’ll need to make an account to ask a question.
Then search for your location and ask your question like this.
“Hi, does anyone know if company ABC in Cityville does a pre-employment drug test?”
You could get a direct response from a current or former employee, or you may get a response from someone who knows someone that works there.
Don’t use Facebook for this. Reddit is anonymous, but on Facebook you’re probably using your real identity.
Pay A Redditor To Find Out For You
The final way to use Reddit to find out if a company drug test, is to offer someone $5 – $10 to find out for you.
You can do this by posting a task on the r/slavelabour subreddit.
Make sure the task is very specific. You would post something like the following.
“Looking for someone who can find me a copy of company ABC’s employee handbook, or who can link me to their drug testing policy. Offering $5. Need this asap.”
You should get several offers from people willing to look for the information for you.
Should You Ask About A Drug Test During Your Interview?
If you reach the interview stage and you haven’t been able to find out about the company’s drug testing policy, it isn’t a good idea to ask during the interview.
By asking, you tacitly admit to the interviewer that you take drugs. Now they don’t even need to test you before turning you down.
If the company carries out pre-employment drug testing, you’ll find out soon enough, because when they make you a conditional job offer, they will send you the information you’ll need to go and give a sample for the drug test.
At that point, you can choose to give a sample or decline the job offer.
What you can do at the interview is ask for a copy of the employee handbook. Just say you would like to review the various expectations and company rules.
If the interviewer asks you if there’s anything specific you want to know, say no, and that you’re just doing your homework on the company because you like to be as well prepared as possible.
If they send you a copy of the handbook, you’ll be able to see what to expect regarding any random, reasonable cause, or post-incident drug testing.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is It OK To Ask An Employer If They Drug Test?
It isn’t a good idea to ask an employer about drug testing because if you do, you’re telling the employer that you take drugs. Try to find out about their drug testing policy in a less obvious way. You could use a search engine to look for information or you could ask about the company in online groups.
How Long After A Job Offer Do You Get Drug Tested?
Companies ask you to take a drug test as soon as possible and many even require you to take a test within 48 hours of accepting a job offer. You may be able to stall for a day or two, but any longer would arouse suspicion.
Do Other Companies Know If You Failed A Drug Test?
Your drug test is private medical information and neither the testing lab nor your employer has any right to pass that information on to anyone else. The exception is for DOT-regulated positions where a positive result would be registered with the relevant database and be visible on your employment record.
Wrapping Up
You should be able to find out if a company drug tests by contacting them and asking in an indirect way or by searching online for an answer.
With large companies, searching online will usually give you the information you need, but the information for smaller companies may not be available.
Look on the company job portal and check online job listings to see if drug testing is mentioned.

Robert Eric (a lover of Cats and Dogs) is the co-founder of HireFelonsJobs. In our search for a better life, after… A platform was created for the purpose of easing the search for ex-convicts.