Drug Screening Market Size
Drug Screening Market size was valued at USD 6.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 27.1 billion by 2032, registering a CAGR of 16.3% during the forecast period. Growth can be attributed to the surging consumption of drugs and alcohol across the globe that has accelerated the adoption of drug screening.

According to the World Drug Report 2021, drug use disorders were estimated to affect 36.3 million people worldwide in 2019. Thus, rising drug use disorder across the globe is expected to increase the product demand. Further, enforcement of stringent laws to curb drug and alcohol usage, strict laws on drug screening, and rising regulatory approvals of novel drug screening products are few of the factors that positively influencing the market revenue.
Drug Screening Market Report Attributes
Report Attribute |
Details |
Base Year | 2022 |
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Drug Screening Market Size in 2022 | USD 6.2 Billion |
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Forecast Period | 2023 to 2032 |
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Forecast Period 2023 to 2032 CAGR | 16.3% |
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2032 Value Projection | USD 27.1 Billion |
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Historical Data for | 2018 to 2022 |
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No. of Pages | 210 |
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Tables, Charts & Figures | 384 |
Segments covered | Components, Sample Type, Drug Type, End-use, and Region |
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Growth Drivers | - Growing drug and alcohol consumption
- Presence of stringent laws to support drug screening
- Growing availability of products and services for drug-of-abuse testing
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Pitfalls & Challenges | - Prohibition on workplace drug testing
- Dearth of trained laboratory professionals
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Drug screening test basically analyses biological samples such as urine, oral fluids, hair, and breath samples to determine the presence of drug abuse or its metabolites in patient’s body. Drug screening tests are used to determine whether a person is or was under the influence of drugs at any given time.
COVID-19 Impact
Hey there! The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a blow to the drug testing industry. Why? Well, fewer people were getting tested for drugs because more people were working from home and being cautious about their health. A survey by a group called Current Consulting Group (CCG) found that around 21% of employers had a huge drop in the number of drug tests they did during the pandemic. In fact, some employers saw a decrease of 61% or more! And it's not just workplace drug testing. Research shows that there was a big drop in people getting tested for prescription and illegal drugs too. In one study, the number of tests went down by 70%! All this meant that the drug screening industry took a hit during the pandemic. It's clear that the pandemic really shook things up.
Drug Screening Market Trend
The main reason why the drug testing market is growing so rapidly is because more people are using drugs and alcohol. In fact, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says that the number of people using drugs has gone up by 22% since 2021. Specifically, they say that about 200 million people smoked cannabis in 2021, which is a big reason why there's a bigger demand for drug testing. And it's not just cannabis—the Global Information System on Alcohol and Health says that in 2018, people around the world drank an average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per year. So, with more and more people using drugs and alcohol, it's no surprise that the market for drug testing is booming.
Drug Screening Market Restraint
Prohibition on workplace drug screening may hamper the market growth. For instance, Connecticut law generally prohibits private-sector employers from requiring employees to undergo random drug tests unless the state labour commissioner has designated their occupations as high-risk or safety-sensitive. Additionally, some countries such as Canada, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and South Africa, regard workplace drug and alcohol testing to be a violation of employee privacy. Such bans in certain nations may restrict the adoption of drug and alcohol screening, hence may act as a restraint for the market value.
Drug Screening Market Analysis
By component, the drug screening market is classified into products and drug screening services. The product segment is further categorised into analytical instruments, rapid testing devices, and consumables. The product segment dominated the market in 2022 with a revenue share of 55.7%. Increasing launch of advanced drug screening products that provide improved solutions to make testing easy, accurate, and fast have accelerated the market trends. For instance, in May 2020, Psychemedics Corporation introduced a vaping panel to detect the use of Marijuana, CBD and Nicotine. Similarly, in May 2018, Omega Laboratories introduced Omega Hair 17-panel drug test offering tests for 45 different substances.

Based on sample type, the drug screening market is segmented into urine, breath, oral fluids, hair, and other sample types. The oral fluids sample is expected to register around USD 6.6 billion by 2032. The segment is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. This high growth can be attributed to the fact that oral fluids are most used sample type to detect the presence of illicit substances and provide rapid and easy detection of drugs. Additionally, it is a quicker and less invasive sample to collect at the roadside. According to NCBI 2020 survey conducted for staff as well as patients concluded that oral fluid samples are preferred over urine samples as they help save time and maintain dignity.
By drug type, the drug screening market is segmented into alcohol, cannabis/marijuana, amphetamines, opioids, and other drug types. The cannabis/marijuana segment held largest market share of 35.1% in 2022. This can be attributed to high usage of cannabis drugs. For instance, as per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marijuana is the most used federally illegal drug in the U.S. accounting for nearly 48.2 million people used it at least once in 2019. Such increasing usage of cannabis/marijuana is expected to rise the demand for cannabis drug screening, thereby resulting in high segment progress.
The end-use in drug screening market is divided into drug testing laboratories, workplace, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, other end-users. Drug testing laboratories dominated the market and is expected to show considerable growth of 16.1% during the analysis period. Wide acceptance of drug testing laboratories is due to their accurate results and presence of trained personnel especially in developed countries for conducting effective tests. Also, drug testing laboratories can test for the presence of any illicit substance, which is not possible with rapid tests. Thus, benefits offered by drug testing laboratories will contribute to the market expansion.

North America is expected to hold significant share in the drug screening industry due to the serious problem related to high levels of alcohol intake. Also, the increasing consumption of illegal drugs, the availability of government funding to combat drug abuse, and the existence of strict rules in the country will propel the regional market growth. For instance, in April 2022, Quest Diagnostics, an American clinical laboratory performed drug testing and collected 11 million unidentifiable urine, hair, and oral fluid sample results between January and December 2021. The laboratory published data for collected samples in March 2022 and reported that, 7.5% of employees testing were positive for marijuana between January and December 2021. Hence, the rising consumption of drugs among people is expected to increase the demand for drug screening tests.
Drug Screening Market Share
Major market players operating in the drug screening market include
- Laboratory Corporation of America
- Quest Diagnostics
- Abbott Laboratories
- OraSure Technologies, Inc.
- Alfa Scientific Designs, Inc.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
- Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA
- Lifeloc Technologies, Inc.
- Omega Laboratories, Inc.
- Premier Biotech, Inc.
- Psychemedics Corporation
- FHoffmann-La Roche Ltd
- Shimadzu Scientific Instruments.
- Siemens Healthineers
These industry players majorly adopt various strategies including collaborations, acquisitions, mergers, and partnerships to create a global footprint and sustain market competition.
Drug Screening Industry News
- In April 2022, Saladax Biomedical, Inc acquired a patent portfolio for antipsychotic drug testing from Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. This intellectual property (IP) portfolio includes 17 patent families. This strategy placed the company in a premier position in the antipsychotic drug testing field.
- In April 2019, Thermo Fisher Scientific launched Thermo Scientific CEDIA Mitragynine (Kratom) Assay, its newest drugs of abuse test. The CEDIA Mitragynine (Kratom) assay can be run on commonly used clinical chemistry analyzers, allowing a broad spectrum of laboratorians to test for the presence of Kratom. This helped the company to widen its product portfolio.
The drug screening market research report includes an in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD from 2018 to 2032, for the following segments
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By Component
- Products
- Analytical instruments
- Immunoassay analyzers
- Chromatographic analyzers
- Breath analyzers
- Rapid testing devices
- Consumables
- Drug screening services
By Sample Type
- Urine
- Breath
- Oral fluids
- Hair
- Other sample types
By Drug Type
- Alcohol
- Cannabis/Marijuana
- Amphetamines
- Opioids
- Other drug types
By End-use
- Drug testing laboratories
- Workplace
- Hospitals
- Law Enforcement Agencies
- Other end-users
The above information is provided for the following regions and countries
- North America
- Europe
- Germany
- UK
- France
- Spain
- Italy
- Rest of Europe
- Asia Pacific
- Japan
- China
- India
- Australia
- Rest of Asia Pacific
- Latin America
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Argentina
- Rest of Latin America
- Middle East & Africa
- South Africa
- Saudi Arabia
- Rest of MEA