Mississippi Code
Miss. Code Ann. § 71-7-1 (2026)
Definitions
✓ current as of July 2026
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning ascribed to them herein unless the context requires otherwise:
- (a) "Confirmation test" means a drug and alcohol test on a specimen to substantiate the results of a prior drug and alcohol test on the specimen. The confirmation test must use an alternate method of equal or greater sensitivity than that used in the previous drug and alcohol test.
- (b) "Drug" means an illegal drug, or a prescription or nonprescription medication.
- (c) "Alcohol" means ethyl alcohol.
- (d) "Drug and alcohol test" means a chemical test administered for the purpose of determining the presence or absence of a drug or metabolites in a person's body fluids.
- (e) "Employee" means any person who supplies a service for remuneration or pursuant to any contract for hire to a private or public employer in this state.
- (f) "Employee assistance program" means a program provided by an employer offering assessment, short-term counseling and referral services to employees, including drug, alcohol and mental health programs.
- (g) "Employer" means any individual, organization or government body, subdivision or agency thereof, including partnership, association, trustee, estate, corporation, joint-stock company, insurance company or legal representative, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee or successor thereof, and any common carrier by mail, motor, water, air or express company doing business in or operating within this state, which has one or more employees within this state, or which has offered or may offer employment to one or more individuals in this state.
- (h) "Illegal drug" means any substance, other than alcohol, having psychological and/or physiological effects on a human being and that is not a prescription or nonprescription medication, including controlled dangerous substances and controlled substance analogs or volatile substances which produce the psychological and/or physiological effects of a controlled dangerous substance through deliberate introduction into the body.
- (i) "Initial test" means an initial drug test to determine the presence or absence of drugs or their metabolites in specimens.
- (j) "Laboratory" means any laboratory that is currently certified or accredited by the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act, as amended, by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, by the College of American Pathologists, or that has been deemed by the State Board of Health to have been certified or accredited by an appropriate federal agency, organization or another state.
- (k) "Neutral selection basis" means a mechanism for selecting employees for drug tests that:
- (i) results in an equal probability that any employee from a group of employees subject to the selection mechanism will be selected, and
- (ii) does not give an employer discretion to waive the selection of any employee selected under the mechanism.
- (l) "Prescription or nonprescription medication" means a drug prescribed for use by a duly licensed physician, dentist or other medical practitioner licensed to issue prescriptions or a drug that is authorized pursuant to federal or state law for general distribution and use without a prescription in the treatment of human diseases, ailments or injuries.
- (m) "Reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing" means drug and alcohol testing based on a belief that an employee is using or has used drugs in violation of the employer's policy drawn from specific objective and articulable facts and reasonable inferences drawn from those facts in light of experience, and may be based upon, among other things:
- (i) Observable phenomena, such as direct observation of drug use and/or the physical symptoms or manifestations of being under the influence of a drug;
- (ii) Abnormal conduct or erratic behavior while at work, absenteeism, tardiness or deterioration in work performance;
- (iii) A report of drug use provided by reliable and credible sources and which has been independently corroborated;
- (iv) Evidence that an individual has tampered with a drug and alcohol test during his employment with the current employer;
- (v) Information that an employee has caused or contributed to an accident while at work;
- (vi) Evidence that an employee is involved in the use, possession, sale, solicitation or transfer of drugs while working or while on the employer's premises or operating the employer's vehicle, machinery or equipment.
- (n) "Specimen" means a tissue or product of the human body chemically capable of revealing the presence of drugs in the human body.
Laws, 1991, ch. 610, § 1; reenacted and codified, Laws, 1994, ch. 323, § 1; Laws, 2002, ch. 432, § 1, eff. 7/1/2002.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6
cases, 1997–2013 · leading case: Halbert v. City of Columbus, 722 So. 2d 522 (Miss. 1998).
Halbert v. City of Columbus, 722 So. 2d 522 (Miss. 1998). “The City adopted a substance abuse policy in 1992, pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 71-7-1, and amended the policy in 1995 to require all City employees to submit to random testing.”
Southwood Door Co. v. Burton, 847 So. 2d 833 (Miss. 2003). “Faced with the question of whether Burton's positive test result could be considered "misconduct" under Mississippi law, the court analyzed the Drug and Alcohol Testing of Employees Law, Miss.Code Ann. §§ 71-7-1 to -33 (2000), as it applied to employment security cases.”
Williams v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 527 F.3d 1135 (10th Cir. 2008). “; Miss.Code Ann. § 71-7-1 et seq.; Mont.Code Ann.”
Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Hilliard, 772 So. 2d 1103 (Miss. Ct. App. 2000). “Miss.Code Ann. § 71-7-1 (Rev.2000). Refusal to submit to a properly required drug test may justify the discharge of the employee.”
May v. Mississippi Dep't of Corr., 531 F. App'x 464 (5th Cir. 2013). “See Miss.Code Ann. § 71-7-1 et seq. May also alleges that MDOC's testing methodology did not comply with the department’s own policy.”
Lillie B. Halbert v. City of Columbus, Mississippi (Miss. 1997). “The City adopted a substance abuse policy in 1992, pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 71-7-1 , and amended the policy in 1995 to require all City employees to submit to random testing.”
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