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STREETDRUGS UNIVERSITY |
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Publishers Group |
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Every business, regardless of size or location, is infected to the countless problems that alcohol and drug abuse can cause. Most individuals who abuse alcohol and other drugs are employed, and when they arrive for work, they don't leave their problems outside the door. Although the rate of current illicit drug use is higher among unemployed individuals, the vast majority of current illicit drug users in the US are employed. Of 12.3 million adult current illicit drug users, 9.4 million (77 percent) work. Everyone involved in running a business-both employers and employees-suffers when there is workplace alcohol and drug abuse. Some costs are obvious, such as increased absences, accidents and errors. Others, such as low morale and high illness rates, are less so, but the effects are equally harmful. One in five workers report that they have had to work harder, redo work or cover for a co-worker or have been put in danger or injured as a result a fellow employee's drinking. *Up to 40 percent of industrial fatalities and 47 percent of industrial injuries can be linked to alcohol consumption and alcoholism. *Alcohol and drug abuse has been estimated to cost American businesses roughly 81 billion dollars in lost productivity in just one year-37 billion due to premature death and 44 billion due to illness. Of these combined costs, 86 percent are attributed to drinking. *Alcoholism is estimated to cause 500 million lost workdays annually. *Individuals who are current illicit drug users are more than twice as likely (9.3 percent) than those who are not (4.3 percent) to have changed employers three or more times in the past year. * Individuals who are current illicit drug users are also more likely (12.9 percent) than those who are not (5 percent) to have skipped one or more work days in the past month. *Similarly, individuals who are current heavy alcohol users are more likely (8 percent) than those who are not (4.4 percent) to have changed employers three or more times in the past year. *Individuals who are current heavy alcohol users are also more likely (11.3 percent) than those who are not (5.1 percent) to have skipped one or more work days in the past month. *Results from a US Postal Service study revealed that employees who tested positive in a pre-employment drug test are 66 percent more likely to be absent and 77 percent more likely to be discharged within three years than those who tested negative. *Of callers to the National Cocaine Helpline, 75 percent admit to having used drugs on the job, 64 percent report that drugs have adversely affected their job performance, 44 percent say they have sold drugs to fellow employees and 18 percent say they have stolen from coworkers to support their drug habit. Small Businesses are most vulnerable when it comes to workplace substance abuse and are at a big disadvantage because they are less likely to have programs in place to combat the problem, yet they are more likely to be the "employer-of-choice" for illicit drug users. Individuals who can't adhere to a drug-free workplace policy seek employment at firms that don't have one, and the cost of just one error caused by an impaired employee can devastate a small company. More than one-half of the economic impact of drug problems is borne by or transferred to the nonabusing population. Out of the $97.7 billion in drug abuse costs, the nonabusing population bears an estimated $54.8 billion, or 56 percent, of the costs. Abusers bear $42.9 billion, and arguably the loss by abusers may be lower than this because the financial burden is often shifted to other members of their households and because they participate in underground economies such as drug trafficking, gambling, and prostitution, which generate income. The estimated costs of alcohol abuse fall heavily on alcohol abusers (including their household members). About $66.8 billion (45 percent) is borne by abusers, but an even greater share "$81.2 billion" is borne by nonabusers. Alcohol abusers may bear less of the cost than this, because they, too, shift effects to household members. The largest share of the costs that are shifted are borne by governments (which ultimately means by taxpayers and those who would have received benefits of reduced taxes or additional government services). Governments bear 46.2 percent of total drug abuse costs and 38.6 percent of total alcohol costs. Private health and life insurance bears 3.2 percent of drug abuse and 10.2 percent of alcohol abuse costs. Nonabusers (actually, victims of crime and accidents) directly bear 6.7 percent of drug abuse and 6 percent of alcohol costs, respectively. Of course, all of the costs borne by government and private insurance are ultimately transferred to taxpayers and insurance policy holders, who are predominantly nonabusers. The costs/effects of drug and alcohol abuse are spread throughout society (to nonusers) through the following mechanisms: * Impacts on nonusers, * Government control efforts, and * Insurance and social systems (insurance and tax systems). First, there is evidence that abuse of drugs and alcohol are causal factors in crime as well as transportation accidents that affect nonabusers. Largely because of these effects on nonusers, society expends substantial resources attempting to control the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse through the criminal justice system and public health efforts. Also, the effects of drugs and alcohol that might appear to fall on the abusers themselves are often shifted to nonusers. For example, the costs of health problems are transferred through private and public health insurance; lost earnings result in reduced tax revenues and may also be offset through social insurance/welfare programs (unemployment and disability insurance and income supplements). |
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Cost of Drug Abuse |
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To contact us: |
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Phone: 763 473-0646 Fax: (763) 404-0725 E-mail: info@streetdrugs.org |
