John Condron is a US Department of Transportation Substance Abuse Professional. The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is a person who evaluates employees in “safety sensitive positions” who have violated a DOT drug and alcohol program regulation and makes recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare.
Violations include testing positive for a DOT-prohibited substance, including marijuana, alcohol, stimulants like cocaine, amphetamine or methamphetamine, or someone else’s prescription drugs. Other violations include refusal to test or attempting to falsify a test.
Substance Abuse Professionals represent the major decision point (and in some cases the only decision point) an employer may have in choosing whether or not to place an employee back behind the steering wheel of a school bus, in the cockpit of a plane, at the helm of an oil tanker, at the throttle of a train, in the engineer compartment of a subway car, or at the emergency control valves of a natural gas pipeline. The SAP’s responsibility to the public is enormous!
The SAP is not advocate for the employer or the employee. His function is to protect the public interest in safety by professionally evaluating the employee and recommending appropriate education and/or treatment, follow-up tests, and aftercare.
Note that the U.S. Department of Transportation does not certify Substance Abuse Professionals. Instead, professionals qualify through various private organizations. John Condron qualifies by virtue of completion of training through NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals. His credentials can be viewed here.