Federal agents have charged 37 people with illegally buying and/or selling prescription drugs at a Boeing military aircraft plant outside of Philadelphia.
All but one of the individuals charged are current or former Boeing employees. Experts say this incident highlights the difficulties of detecting employee use of illicit prescription medications.
Four types of prescription drugs were found at the Boeing factory, including the painkiller Oxycontin.
According to the drug-testing company Quest Diagnostics, only 12 percent of the 4.5 million drug tests conducted in 2010 tested for Oxycontin.
Quest also said that about three-quarters of drug tests are conducted before an employee is hired, making it difficult to determine if workers are using drugs once they are on the job.
More companies may begin testing for opiates like Oxycontin as the number of people treated for painkiller abuse in the United States rose 400 percent over the past 10 years.
These medications have also been associated with a higher instance of workplace accidents.
Already, Quest says that 40 percent more America workers tested positive for prescription opiates in 2009 than in 2005.
No study has yet investigated which industries have the highest rate of usage problems, but Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne says that the results of such a study would likely be surprising.
"These are people who don't fit the profile of a typical drug user," Payne explained.