An Analysis of Worker Drug Use and Workplace Policies and Programs

HIGHLIGHTS

This report uses information from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) to examine a number of issues involving illicit drug and heavy alcohol use among U.S. workers and workplace policies that address drug and alcohol use. It presents data derived from 7,055 NHSDA respondents, age 18-49, who reported that they were working full-time at the time they were interviewed. These respondents represent over 78 million full-time workers in the United States. In 1994, the NHSDA included an expanded set of questions concerning workplace issues. This expanded set was the result of a collaborative effort between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. The 1994 NHSDA instrument included questions about various work-related outcomes (e.g., missing work, being fired, workplace accidents), occupation, establishment size, whether respondents had been provided with information at their workplace regarding use of alcohol or drugs, the presence of written policies and employee assistance programs for workers with drug or alcohol problems, and the use of various drug testing options and employees’ perceptions about them. The principal findings from analysis of data from these questions include the following:

·In the overall population age 18-49 represented by the NHSDA, about 8 percent of full-time workers, 9 percent of part-time workers, and 16 percent of the unemployed reported current illicit drug use (use of any illicit drug in the past month), but almost 70 percent of the estimated number of users were currently employed full-time.

·The percentage of full-time workers age 18-49 who reported current illicit drug use remained between seven and eight percent from 1991 to 1994. The percentage of full-time workers who reported heavy alcohol use (five or more drinks on five or more occasions in the past 30 days) remained between eight and nine percent from 1988 to 1994.

·Full-time workers age 18-49 reporting current illicit drug use were more likely than those reporting no current illicit drug use to state that they had worked for three or more employers in the past year, taken an unexcused absence from work in the past month, voluntarily left an employer in the past year, and been fired by an employer in the past year.

·The rate of current illicit drug use was higher among 18-25 year olds, males, whites, and those who reported annual personal incomes of less than $9,000 or $75,000 or more than among older workers, women, blacks and Hispanics, or those who reported annual personal incomes between $9,000 and $74,999.

·The rate of current illicit drug use was higher among workers employed in smaller establishments (1-24 employees) than among workers employed in larger establishments (25-499 or 500 or more employees). The rate of heavy alcohol use did not differ by establishment size.

·Construction workers, handlers, helpers, and laborers, precision production and repair workers, and food preparation, waitstaff, and bartenders reported the highest rates of current illicit drug use. Protective service workers reported the lowest rate of current illicit drug use.

·Workers employed in small establishments (1-24 employees) who reported current illicit drug use were less likely than workers employed in small establishments who reported no current illicit drug use to state that their employer provided information, had written policies, or provided access to employee assistance programs that addressed drug and alcohol use. This pattern did not exist among workers in large establishments (500 or more employees); a similar percentage of workers reporting current illicit drug use and workers reporting no current illicit drug use said that their workplace provided information, had written policies, or provided access to employee assistance programs.

·A high percentage of protective service workers reported that their employer provided information (97%), had written policies (94%), or provided access to employee assistance programs (86%) that addressed drug and alcohol use. However, a much smaller percentage of construction workers reported that their employer provided information (57%), had written policies (55%), or provided access to employee assistance programs (25%). The remaining occupation categories tended to fall between these two groups, although a relatively small percentage of workers in the food preparation, waitstaff, and bartender occupation category reported access to employee assistance programs (20%).

·Thirty-five percent of full-time workers age 18-49 reported that their workplace tested for drug use at hiring, 20 percent reported random drug testing programs, 28 percent reported drug testing programs based upon reasonable suspicion of a supervisor, and 23 percent reported the use of testing following work-related accidents.

·These various drug testing options—at hiring, random testing, testing upon reasonable suspicion, or post-accident testing—were more likely to be reported by workers employed in larger size establishments than by those employed in smaller size establishments.

·Workers reporting current illicit drug use were less likely than workers reporting no current illicit drug use to indicate that their workplace had any drug testing program, at-hiring drug testing programs, and random drug testing programs.

·Workers reporting current illicit drug use were less likely than workers reporting no current illicit drug use to say they would work for an employer who tests employees for drug use at hiring, randomly, based upon reasonable suspicion, or following a work-related accident.

This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.