Everything you wanted to know about urine specimen collection

We never quite know what each new phone call to the ACLU will bring. Friday, a Globe reporter called with a question about urine specimen collection.

Select employees at the MBTA (and other transportation agencies across the country) will soon need to be watched when they give urine samples for mandatory drug tests. The brand-new regulations -- which cover topics such as "directly observed collections" and the related problem of "shy bladder" -- are due to take effect in November.

Reportedly, the regs only apply to people who have tested positive for drug use before, or who have been accused of tampering with the samples they gave in the past -- BUT STILL.

We think the real issue is that drug testing isn't everything it's cracked up to be. There just isn't a lot of evidence that mandatory drug tests reduce problems like accident rates or absenteeism. At the same time, other factors besides use of illegal drugs -- including things as simple as not getting enough sleep -- can cause more serious problems.

Here's what we told the Globe.