Speaking of drug testing...

That does sound a tad odd to me too!

My hospital doesn't drug test (well, I imagine in might if there was grounds for it)...

I've never had to do a urine drug screen In my life, actually.

I also have never been subject to a drug test. I don't think they are common in Canada (I notice PP is also Canadian). I work for a large health authority and as far as I know they never do pre-employment drug screening.

Maybe a controversial belief, but I'm strongly opposed to routine pre-employment drug screening. I mean, I do it because I like being employed and all, but I think in general they're unncessary and overly intrusive. Testing based on reasonable suspicion? Absolutely. So, no, I don't think it's weird, I think it's an employer who chooses to let grown ups be grown ups.

Yes. I work for a large private teaching hospital in NYC that does not do pre-employment drug testing. I asked the occupational health nurse who did my physical about it, and she said the money they spend testing every employee's urine definitely is not worth catching the odd person in every thousand who actually has a drug problem. I did clinicals at three different city (public) hospitals, however, and they all required UDS.

Companies get discounts on insurance if they drug test, so sometimes they will say they will do random drug testing to get the discount, then never drug test so they don't have to pay for the test.

Kinda like if you have an anti-theft system on your car, your insurance company may give you a discounted price for auto insurance

I was just offered my first RN position today and the only thing mentioned was a background check, which I signed off on before I left and accepted the position on the spot. This is a LARGE health group in my area so I'm a little surprised but I wouldn't have a problem so it's not something I gave any thought to until this moment.