A drug mention often arrives with a no-show

A drug or alcohol mention in a previous carrier’s write-up is often not a roadside filing. It is frequently the same week as an empty chair: a pre-employment test that never happened, a flight that was booked, and a candidate who never showed. Treat the pairing as one screen, not two unrelated problems.

Among the reviews carriers left on CDLScan, 11.7% mention drugs or alcohol. That figure describes those reviews, not drivers in general: carriers write after a bad run, so the share tells you what shows up once someone bothers to report it.

Inside that slice, 14.5% also mention a no-show. Read the denominator before you use the number. It is 14.5% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews, not 14.5% of all reviews, and not 14.5% of no-show reviews. Flip the pair and the share changes: 31.7% of no-show reviews also mention drugs or alcohol. Same overlap, two bases.

That pairing is not random. No-shows are 5.3% of all reviews. If drugs or alcohol and a no-show showed up together only by chance, you would expect about 5.3% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews to also mention a no-show. The observed share is 14.5% — about 2.7 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier. It is not a probability that the next person you send to a clinic will vanish.

Two clocks, one week

The write-ups talk about a drug test, a pre-employment test, test results that never arrived, a flight ticket or a plane ticket sitting in the same paragraph, a candidate who never showed, and a phone that stopped answering. That is the incident register.

Stay away and waste your time are a different register. Those are the author’s recommendation to the next recruiter, not a description of what the candidate did. In 39.3% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews the carrier also writes a verdict. That is a fact about how these reviews end, not a fact about the driver. Read the scene. Do not hire off the temperature of the last sentence.

Paid travel is the closest companion. In 16.0% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews the carrier also mentions paid travel with no arrival. Going unreachable sits in 12.2%. An abandoned truck sits in only 10.3% — this is mostly not the walk-off population. Aggression or threats sit in 7.5%. Theft sits in 7.0%. A crash or damage sits in 6.4%.

I keep the ticket next to this pair without turning the article into a test manual. The official reports are built to hold a failed test. They are not built to hold a seat that stayed empty. The no-show itself is the spend. The test that never happened is the same spend told twice.

The share of reviews mentioning drugs or alcohol ran 13.6% in 2018, 12.1% in 2019, 13.0% in 2020, 14.7% in 2021, 11.8% in 2022, 10.9% in 2023, 10.2% in 2024, and 11.2% in 2025. I stop that line at 2025. 2026 is still open. 2021 is the high you should not smooth over, 14.7%. Then the share stepped down and 2025 is 11.2% — lower than 2018, not gone. How these shares are counted is on the methodology page.

No-show mentions moved from 3.7% in 2018 to 4.9% in 2025. The drug-and-alcohol line eased. The empty chair did not. That is why the pairing still matters even as the headline category cooled. The no-show side of that story is in a no-show as onboarding spend. The drug-mention side is in a drug mention that is often a missed test.

What the pairing is not

It is not proof that every drug mention is a no-show. Most drugs-or-alcohol reviews do not also mention a no-show. 14.5% is a heavy overlap relative to chance, not a majority.

It is also not the same population as the driver who takes the truck and leaves it. Only 10.3% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews also mention an abandoned truck. The person who never arrives and the person who arrives, takes a unit, and walks are mostly different write-ups. Screening for one will not catch the other. That split is the point of two failure populations that barely overlap.

Going unreachable sits in 12.2% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews. That is the quieter version of the same week: the test is scheduled, then the phone dies, and you find out they never showed when the clinic asks who is paying for the no-show slot.

Why the packet you already buy stays quiet

PSP, an MVR, and the Clearinghouse hold what someone filed. A no-show after a scheduled test is an accounts-payable problem until a result exists. A Clearinghouse hit can sit next to it — when a test was actually taken and reported. The empty chair itself never becomes a query result.

Previous-employer forms are not much better here. The last carrier may never have onboarded the person. There is no eligible-for-rehire box for someone who never got a truck. The story lives in the write-up the last recruiter left when they were tired of paying for seats and clinic slots that stayed empty.

A clean packet on Monday morning does not tell you whether the candidate you just scheduled will walk into the clinic. Those are different claims. False statements in the same history are a separate screen; that rise is in false-statement mentions since 2018. Logbook and hours problems are another, and they are falling, not gone.

I am not going to pretend this is an independent study. CDLScan is the source, and I write from the data they share. Drugs or alcohol are common enough in what carriers bother to write down, a no-show rides along far above chance, and the packet you already run is designed for the result, not for the absence.

What was visible before you spent

The pattern I’d watch for is urgency around the start date and vagueness around the last test. They want orientation this week. The last carrier is a short stint or a hole. References are slow. Official reports are dull, because there is nothing to file yet.

Typical sequence, built from how these reviews cluster, not from one person’s file: you schedule the pre-employment test. They confirm. They stop answering the day before. They never show. Sometimes a flight was booked on the same invoice. Sometimes they land, skip the clinic, and the ticket is the last money you can find.

None of that is a reason to stop testing. It is a reason to run the name before the clinic slot and the ticket are paid.

What to do before orientation

Look the name up in what previous carriers already wrote. If you see a drug test and a never-showed in the same history, treat the next clinic slot as a decision, not a courtesy.

Ask when they can start without you buying anything. People who are choosing between two real seats can usually wait a few days. People who need the ticket or the test as the job will push the purchase forward and go quiet on the last employer.

If you already booked the slot, freeze the hotel and the advance until someone has looked. Check the name on CDLScan first. It takes less than a minute, and it is where that pairing actually sits.

Frequently asked questions

Does 14.5% mean a drug mention usually becomes a no-show?

No. 14.5% is the share of drugs-or-alcohol reviews that also mention a no-show, among reviews carriers left on CDLScan. Most drugs-or-alcohol write-ups do not include a no-show. The pairing is far above chance. It is not a majority.

Why is the other share 31.7%?

Because the base changed. 31.7% of no-show reviews also mention drugs or alcohol. Same overlap, counted from the other side. Always name the denominator.

What does lift 2.7 mean here?

No-shows are 5.3% of all reviews. Seeing them in 14.5% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews is about 2.7 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier, not the odds on your next hire.

Will the Clearinghouse warn me?

It will warn you about a reported result. It will not warn you about a clinic slot that stayed empty. A no-show after a scheduled test is not a query result until something was filed.

Is this the same problem as an abandoned truck?

Usually not. Only 10.3% of drugs-or-alcohol reviews also mention an abandoned truck. The person who never starts and the person who leaves a unit are mostly different populations.

What should I ask before I schedule the test?

When they can start if the clinic waits two days, and what the last carrier will say about why they left. Then read the write-ups. Do not let the appointment become the background check.

Where do I check the name?

On CDLScan, before the slot is paid. Previous carriers already wrote this pairing down. You should read it while the money is still yours.