Recent surveys and statistics are alarming regarding substance abuse in the workplace. Employees are using drugs at work including opiates, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 69% of illicit drug users in the United States have used drugs on the job. Surveys show that the highest occupations for drug use at work are retail, food & beverage, education, and healthcare. Typically drug users get high on the way to work, at lunchtime and throughout the day. Drug use is often in the parking lot, in the bathroom or just outside the building. How do you spot these drug users? Be alert, look, hear and smell. Watch for frequent call outs or employees who come in late or duck out early. Be aware of noticeable odors and bloodshot eyes. Supervisors should be trained to determine signs and symptoms of potential employee drug use at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Trump mentioned in his 2018 State of the Union address \u2013 \u201cIn 2016, we lost 64,000 Americans to drug overdoses: 174 deaths per day. Seven per hour. We must get much tougher on drug dealers and pushers if we are going to succeed in stopping this scourge.\u201d Surveys show American workers using OxyContin, Lortab, Percocet, Vicodin, and Heroin. Now more than ever, drug testing policies need to be revised to include testing for expanded opiates. Most employers don\u2019t have policies to deal with these prescribed drugs. Transportation industries in the United States have a mandate effective January 1, 2018, to include drug testing for oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone & hydromorphone. Typically drug testing panels that include prescribed opiates testing will be referred to as expanded opiate panels such a 5 panel with expanded opiates or a 10 panel with expanded opiates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reports that some 4.3 million people say they\u2019re using prescription painkillers non-medically.\u202f\u202fThe opioid crisis is costing employers over 12 billion dollars annually. Users who ingest opiates in the workplace are well hidden contrary to users of marijuana or abusers of alcohol.\u202f\u202f\u202fThe opioid crisis in the workplace is causing increased absenteeism, safety concerns, increased workplace accidents and decreased productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTesting for employees using opiates in the workplace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n