Question: Drug abuse is often seen as a personal problem, but should it also be seen as a workplace problem that affects the bottom line of companies?
Answer: Probably 7 out of 10 illegal drug users across America have a job. Even people who smoke “ice” daily can work for a while before they cannot. People who shoot up heroin daily can work for a while before they cannot. They’re in the workplace.
Q: If an employee has a drug problem, how can that affect the bottom line?
A: There have been studies that show most people on drugs perform at 70 percent of their ability. You lose 30 percent productivity right off the bat. As they continue to go down the road to addiction, obviously it can be a lot worse than that.
They normally get in more accidents. They drive up medical costs. Workers’ comp is an issue. There’s tensions with other workers. There’s a lot of theft going on.
The bottom line with drug addicts is the drugs come first. Everything and everybody comes after the drug. So even if they know there is computerized accounting of inventory, they’ll take the risk (to steal) because the drugs come first. The job actually comes second, or fifth or tenth.
A lot of people think that they’ve been drug free all their life and it doesn’t impact them. It does. In every product we buy there’s an inherent cost for drugs.
Q: How can employers identify such a problem?
A: Normally people with problems with drugs, probably 9 out of 10 are going to show symptoms. For some employees, without random drug testing you’re not going to catch them because there are a few people who can really hide their symptoms well and it’s really hard to detect. But for the most part they’ll have problems — tardiness, absences … there’s wide mood swings sometimes, depending on the type of drugs they use. Those are the big ones.
Q: Are companies reluctant to engage in workplace drug prevention or education?
A: Some companies do it every year. Some companies are very reluctant because it’s such a negative subject. They don’t want to feel they’re spying on their workers, yet it’s such an important issue.
The workplace — that’s the place to address it, because when it’s done well, workers really appreciate the effort by management. They’ll also appreciate the fact that anything they learn about drugs in the workplace they can take home to the family.
Right now in the schools with all the cutbacks there’s really not that much time to provide drug education. The D.A.R.E. program alone went from 100-something schools to 40 on our island. It’s more important for the workplace to step it up.
Q: Is the cost of drug awareness or prevention efforts a barrier?
A: There is some reluctance. The cost can be expensive. But the cost not to do it can be as expensive or more.
Q: How can employers help employees who are known or not known to abuse drugs?
A: Many companies are starting to get what’s called employee assistance programs. If you don’t have enough money for an employee assistance program, make contacts with treatment programs and see what’s available.
I like to believe they have one chance to get help, and they either are going to get it or not. But we need to give them a chance. Because if you just fire Gary, all you are doing is sending Gary to some other place to work.
