A link between the absence of employer substance abuse testing and the incidence of abusing employees in the workforce appears to emerge from a study recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ("SAMHSA"), a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The results of a nationwide survey conducted in 2002-2004 concerning workplace substance abuse issues, entitled "Worker Substance Use and Workplace Policies and Programs," was based on data collected from a sample of 128,000 people employed full-time, ages 18 to 64, who participated in SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The survey, released on July 16, 2007, underscores the fact that use of illicit drugs and alcohol in the workplace is widespread. Some of the survey's more significant highlights for employers include the following:
- Most of the nation's approximately 16.4 million current illicit drug users and approximately 15 million heavy alcohol users hold full-time jobs.
- Current drug users were more likely to work for employers who did not conduct drug or alcohol testing.
- Highest rates of current illicit drug use were among food service workers (17.4%), construction workers (15.1%), and arts, design, entertainment, sports and media employees (12.4%).
- Highest rates of current heavy alcohol use were found among construction, mining, excavation and drilling workers (17.8%), installation, maintenance and repair workers (14.7%), and food service workers (12.1%).
- Illicit drug use and heavy alcohol use are associated with higher levels of absenteeism and frequent job changes. For example, nearly twice as many current illicit drug users skipped one or more days of work in the past month compared with workers who did not abuse drugs. Drug users were also far more likely to report missing two or more days of work in the past month due to illness or injury compared with workers who did not abuse drugs.
- Substance abusers had high job turnover rates. Among full-time workers who reported current illicit drug use, 12.3% said they had worked for three or more employers in the last year, compared with 5.1% of non-abusing workers.
Other Notable Statistics Concerning Workplace Drug Policies
Full-time employees who were surveyed reported that:
- 78.7% worked for employers who had a written policy addressing drug and alcohol use.
- 42.9% worked for employers who conduct pre-employment drug testing.
- 29.6% worked for employers who conduct random drug testing.
- 58.4% worked for employers who offered an Employee Assistance Plan.
- 43.8% worked for employers who offered educational information about alcohol and drug use.
SAMHSA's full report is available at http://oas.samhsa.gov/work2k7/toc.cfm.
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