Drug Testing

"Drug Testing" is the twentieth episode of the second season of The Office and the 26th overall. It was written by Jennifer Celotta and directed by Greg Daniels. It first aired on April 27, 2006. It was viewed by 7.8 million people.

Synopsis

Dwight finds half of a joint in the parking lot of Dunder Mifflin and takes advantage of his volunteer sheriff deputy status by interviewing the staff to get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, Jim does an impression of Stanley and gets caught. When he and Pam speak at the same time (impersonating Stanley's response), Pam calls "jinx" so Jim can't talk until he buys her a Coke, which isn't an issue until he discovers the vending machine is sold out. When Dwight sets up urine testing, Michael worries that a "clove cigarette" he smoked at an Alicia Keys concert will show up.

Michael holds an anti-drug meeting for the entire office, where he over-expresses his hatred of drugs. He tries to get out of the testing, but Dwight continues to insist that he must take part. Michael pressures Dwight for a cup of his "clean" urine, but Angela is against the idea. Jim continues to hold up his end of the jinx. Pam continues to tease him, until she gets to the point where she says, "you can tell me anything", which creates an awkward silence. Michael passes his drug test (with Dwight's urine); Dwight turns in his volunteer badge over his actions. Pam buys Jim his Coke, which he buys off of her so she can find out what's been happening with Dwight the whole day. Michael feels guilty, so he makes Dwight an "Honorary Security Advisor" for Dunder Mifflin Scranton. Jim wonders aloud what Dwight gets out of his relationship with Michael, while the camera focuses on him and Pam, suggesting that the two have a similarly confusing relationship.

Deleted scenes

Jim does impressions of Kevin and Angela for Pam.
In a talking head interview, Dwight is so determined to find the culprit that he is prepared to pray "to Thor himself."
In a talking head interview, Toby doesn't think Michael is taking drugs, but maybe he should.
Jim secretly does an impression of Dwight right in front of him.
In a talking head interview, Dwight talks about Jim and concludes, "If that were my life, I'd do drugs."
Phyllis tells Stanley that she told Dwight he wasn't acting withdrawn. Stanley barely acknowledges her.
Stanley ignores Dwight's call to be interviewed.
Pam toys with Dwight by admitting that she "was a teensy bit high... in the parking lot at the Quick and Easy."
Meredith comes to Jim because Pam told her he had something to tell her. Jim is under the jinx and says nothing. Meredith assumes the worst.
Kelly puts a customer on hold when she is called by Dwight.
Dwight takes notes during the conference: "Creed - Shifty eyes. Ryan - Dilated pupils. Kelly - Hyperactive." Michael makes up more absurd drug "facts". Jan (via speakerphone) excuses herself from the meeting, which is the first time the others were aware she was even listening.
Pam shows the camera the flyer that Michael made up for the conference. "Drugs: Let's not and say we did."; she suspects Michael was himself on drugs when he made them.
Kelly returns to her desk after the conference and realizes that her customer has been on hold the whole time.
In talking head interviews, Angela and Meredith talk about how they aren't worried about drug testing.
Pam forwards a call from Brenda to Jim's phone. Jim is under the jinx and doesn't answer. Jim holds up a sign for the camera: "It's ok... She'll call back!"
Dwight turns in his volunteer sheriff's uniform and badge, neither of which he was authorized to have in the first place. The sheriff discovers other things Dwight was doing without authorization.
Leo and Gino, the workers at Vance Refrigeration, discard a joint in the parking lot.

Trivia/Goofs

Michael's list of drugs reads "crack, cocaine, pot, blow, acid, hookah, heroin, speed". There are a number of errors on this list. Firstly, "blow" is a common street name for cocaine, which is already listed. "Crack" is also a form of cocaine. Hookah is not a drug, but rather a method of smoking tobacco called "shisha" that is often mixed with fruit mixtures, as Toby explains in the episode. Additionally, the list features many slang terms from drugs, not the actual term. In addition to "blow", "speed" is slang for amphetamines, "acid" is slang for LSD, and "pot" is slang for marijuana. Michael also writes the word "heroine" instead of "heroin".
The cast and crew joke that this episode must have been the most times any television show has said the word "urine". The word urine is used 16 times.
The kind of marijuana Creed identifies during his interrogation is an actual variety of cannabis.
Steve Carell injured his finger, and it swelled up so much that he couldn't get his wedding ring off. The finger was bandaged to disguise the ring.^[1]
Despite Dwight's hardline aversion to the illegal substance, Season 9's The Farm would reveal that Dwight's brother, Jeb, actually grows marijuana for a living, though the fact that he lives in California, where the drug can, under license, be grown and sold for medicinal purposes, along with (as stated in a talking head) being in the "pain management" business, implies that he does so legally.
According to a deleted scene if Dwight got his badge from the gift shop then he was likely impersonating a police officer which is a felony.
In this episode the office park security guard’s name tag reads “Tate” but he is known as Hank later in the series. This can be explained by the fact that security guards/police have their last names on their badges, which means that Hank's full name is Hank Tate.

Interesting Notes

It is not clear how Creed was able to pass drug testing, as he evidently still uses cannabis.
Dwight states that he “likes the people he works with, generally, with four exceptions.” It is likely those four exceptions are the first four people he questions about the joint: Kevin, Ryan, Kelly, and Oscar.
The use of marijuana is illegal in Pennsylvania so whoever was responsible should have been fired as a result.

Amusing details

When Michael asks Dwight for his urine, the camera reveals a picture of everyone in the office that was taken and Photoshopped (by Michael) in "Conflict Resolution". However, "Conflict Resolution" was aired after "Drug Testing".
Dwight assumes that Kevin is taking Rogaine because he is bald.
Dwight pesters Angela about the prescription drugs she may be on, presumably to try and figure out whether she is on birth control or not.
Kelly doesn't seem to notice that Jim isn't responding to her while she talks. This contributes to her trait of mindless babbling.
Michael's statistics are incredibly flawed, as usual.
Dwight's urine being green implies that he had an infection of some sort.
Dwight goes into the stairwell to moan/cry, as he does in other episodes.
When Dwight tells the drug testing lady he had "green urine" tested back in the day, there's a mysterious lady with grey hair in the background (possibly Luanne). Michael is eavesdropping just next to her.
It is revealed by Toby that when the Dunder Mifflin employees filled out their job applications they agreed to random drug testing.

Cultural references

- Dude where's my office? is a play on the title of the 2000 movie Dude, Where's My Car? about two dimwits who have lost their car.
- A doobie is a slang for a marijuana cigarette. The Doobie Brothers is an American rock group from the 1970s and early 1980s. Michael combines them in a strange way.
- Seacrest out is a catchphrase sign-off of television personality Ryan Seacrest. Peace out is a hippie good-bye. Michael combines the two in a somewhat nonsensical way.
- Jinx is a children's "game". When two people say the same thing at the same time, the person who doesn't say "jinx" first must remain silent until the jinx is released. Traditional conditions including buying the winner a Coke (as occurs in this episode) or having one's name said three times.
- Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong form the comedy team Cheech & Chong which relied heavily on drug humor.
- Eeny, meeny, miny, moe is a children's counting rhyme. It has a disputed racist history and is considered offensive by some.
- To bring out the big guns is a common expression meaning to bring a more powerful technique to some type of conflict or competition.
- Alicia Keys is an R&B singer.
- Let's not and say we did is an idiom used to decline a suggestion. It literally means that one should claim to have done something without having done it.
- Kevin asks for a magazine, which are usually provided when semen is being collected. This goes with other references of Kevin being extremely inapropriate, and storing inapropriate material on his computer.

Quotes

see Drug Testing Quotes

Cast

Guest Cast

- Marilyn Brett as Linda the Urinalysis Technician

References

↑ Supersize Office Finale, Supersize Blog!, Jenna Fischer's blog for TV Guide, May, 11 2006.

[jenna_tvguide_200605-1] Supersize Office Finale, Supersize Blog!, Jenna Fischer's blog for TV Guide, May, 11 2006.

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Drug Testing

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