As NZ has a escalating recreational drug problem the majority of employers are now doing drug testing as part of your conditions of employment, the testing system appears to have a few problems. I am a 55 yr old male who has never touched drugs in his life, i eat healthy foods which is where my problem stems from. I bought a loaf of organic bread containing 8 different nut types, one of these was hemp seeds, myself and my wife ate the loaf over 3 days ending the day before my pre employment drug test, the urine sample was taken and sent away, coming back 4 days later with a positive THC reading of 13ng/ml (lowest recordable reading standard for OZ/NZ is 15ng/ml !) and my job offer was withdrawn. Have now gone back to medical centre who carried out the medical and they are as annoyed as me because the full tests were'nt carried out for them as required. They have recalled the sample for further testing in ChCh but have told me that they have only just been informed that Hemp products can cause problems on testing.
So my point, to whoever is going for a pre emplyment medical, is to be very very careful about what you eat and take, ie painkillers etc before you have your medical because simple things will come and bite you in the bum when you dont want it to. We are awaiting the results of the second test before we contact a solicitor to get some investigation carried out, as we have spent some $20,000 in NZ already and i want my name cleared.