As a result of the legal challenges to urinalysis testing, CSC introduced very specific guidelines under which an offender may be tested. While incarcerated, a prisoner may be tested under four separate grounds:

  1. Reasonable Grounds: Where there are indications that the prisoner has “taken an intoxicant into his/her body” but there are insufficient grounds to convict without urinalysis

  2. Random Selection: five to ten percent of the inmate population is tested monthly on an ongoing basis (no individualized grounds).

  3. Participation in a Community Program or Activity Involving Community Contact: Inmates with a history of substance abuse may be required to give urine samples as part of their conditional release agreement.

  4. Three Consecutive Negative Urine Samples: A prisoner convicted of taking an intoxicant may be required to provide a sample each month until three consecutive negative samples are provided (CSC 2002).

As a result of the various Charter challenges, random urinalysis testing is now allowed in federal penitentiaries only under the condition that inmates have the right to refuse to give urine samples. However, current CSC regulations stipulate that the sanctions for refusing to provide a sample are identical to those incurred when a sample tests positive for drug use, making the point somewhat moot. CSC reports that inmate refusals to provide urine samples have increased significantly from 9% in 1996, to 14% in 2000 (MacPherson 2001).1 Since August 1995, urinalysis has been a regular part of operations at all CSC institutions and approximately 5% of the inmate population is randomly tested each month.

In the community, there is no random urinalysis testing. However, CSC considers drug use a significant criminogenic factor, so community parole officers monitor ex-detainees with a history of drug or alcohol abuse on a regular basis. Community parole officers can request urinalysis under the following conditions:

  1. Reasonable Grounds: Where there are grounds to suspect that a conditionally released prisoner has breached the condition to abstain from ingesting drugs or alcohol;
  2. Monitoring Additional Conditions to Abstain From Intoxicants: Where the National Parole Board indicates that abstinence from intoxicants as a condition of release, an prisoner may be required to undergo urinalysis at regular intervals (CSC 2002).

CSC currently screens for the following substances:

  1. Alcohol,
  2. Amphetamines,
  3. Benzodiazepines (e.g. Valium, sedatives),
  4. Cannaboids (hashish and Marijuana),
  5. Cocaine (cocaine and crack),
  6. LSD,
  7. Opiates,
  8. Phencyclidine (PCP),
  9. Volatiles (solvents),
  10. Methylphendate (Ritalin),
  11. Pentazocine (Talwin),
  12. Meperidine (demerol),
  13. Hydromorphine,
  14. Fluexitine (prozac) (CSC 2002).

1 The significant increase in refusals negatively affects the ability of CSC’s random testing program to accurately assess institutional drug use. For example, in order to attempt to “factor in” inmate refusals, CSC researchers were forced to run three separate analyses on their data: one that assumes that every refusal was negative, one that assumes that 50% of refusals were positive, and one that assumes that 100% of refusals were positive. Not surprisingly, the outcome of their analyses varied significantly depending upon the assumptions made regarding refusals (MacPherson 2001).