Drug abuse, involves the excessive and repeated use of a substance to escape reality to produce pleasure despite its destructive effects. The substances abused can be illegal drugs such as opium, cocaine, marijuana and their derivatives or legal substances used improperly, such as prescription drugs and inhalants like nail polish or gasoline.



Drug abuse by employees cause many expensive problems for businesses ranging from absenteeism, lost productivity, accidents, and an increase in the health insurance claims.

A survey by the federal government showed full-time employees who admitted to being current illicit drug users tend to be: between the ages of 18 and 25, less educated, male, divorced or never married, white and low paid employees. The industries with highest rates of illicit drug use are food preparation workers, waiters, waitresses, and bartenders, construction workers and the workers in transportation and material moving.

The loss to companies in the United States due to alcohol and drug-related abuse by employees’ totals $100 billion a year, according to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information. There are many impacts due to drug in workplace.

Drug Abuse lowers productivity: Studies have shown that substance-abusing employees function at about 67% of their capacity. Problems related to alcohol and drug abuse cost American businesses roughly $81 billion in lost productivity in just one year.

§Drug abuse causes accidents and injuries: Employees who use drugs are 3.6 times more likely to be involved in a workplace accident and 5 times more likely to file a workers’ compensation claim. Up to 40 percent of industrial fatalities and 47 percent of industrial injuries are linked to alcohol use and alcoholism.

§Drug abuse increases absenteeism and turnover: An estimated 500 million workdays are lost annually due to alcoholism. Illicit drug users are more than twice as likely than those who do not use drugs to have changed employers three or more times in the past year.

§Drug abuse increases an employer’s medical costs: Employees who abused to drugs, costs twice in medical claims to their employers, compared to the other normal employees.

§Higher Rates Turnover: Employees who tested positive on their pre-employment drug tests were 77 % more likely to be discharged within the first three years of employment and absent from work 66 % more often than those who tested negative according to US Postal Service.

Preventive actions

A study of the economic impact of substance abuse treatment in Ohio found significant improvements in job-related performance:

·97 percent decrease in on-the-job injuries·93 percent decrease in mistakes in work·88 percent decrease in problems with supervisors·91 percent decrease in absenteeism

When organizations take the preventive actions by establishing comprehensive programs, both employers and employees are benefited.