Global Drug Testing Labs Inc., of Coeur dAlene, says it plans to move its headquarters to Post Falls and open a laboratory in Spokane Valley, and that it expects to expand further by adding outlets in Spokane soon.


Global Drug Testing Labs offers drug testing services mostly to businesses and state and federal agencies, says Ken Smith, president and CEO of the company. Smith says he bought the company, which formerly was called Global Drug Testing Services, last June and changed the operations name.


Business has been growing like a weed, and demand is strong, he says. In the next couple of months we will be moving ourselves farther west.


Global Drug Testing Labs currently is based in a leased 2,500-square-foot building, at 2201 Government Way, in Coeur dAlene, and employs 10 people there, Smith says. The company plans to occupy 3,000 square feet of space in a 10,000-square-foot building, at 609 Calgary Court, in Post Falls, he says, and will have a training lab there in addition to offices for its administrative and sales staff. Tenant improvements currently are under way there, and the company plans to open that office in September, Smith says.


Global Drug Testing Labs expects to move about six employees to the office in Post Falls from its Coeur dAlene site, and plans to hire about 14 more people to work in Post Falls by the end of this year, he says. The Coeur dAlene office will continue to provide lab services.


Last June, a building in Spokane that the company used as a lab burned down, so it opened a lab in Airway Heights, Smith says. It closed that lab last November. Global Drug Testing Labs now plans to re-enter the Spokane market, and has leased 650 square feet of space in a building, at 12704 E. Nora, in Spokane Valley, Smith says. It plans to open a drug testing lab there early this month, and expects to hire two people to work there.


The company plans to open a couple of labs in Spokane in the next few months, he says. Smith declines to disclose further details for now. He says the company hopes to expand elsewhere in the Northwest, but currently is focusing on opening more labs just in Washington and Idaho. He declines to disclose the companys annual revenues.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.