How does off-duty drug use affect the workplace?

Drug users often argue that off-duty drug use doesn’t affect their employer and as such, it’s nobody’s business what they do. It’s a poor argument designed to help drug abusers justify their their use, but it only takes a few minutes browsing the headlines to find direct evidence that their argument is invalid.

A recent example

A recent article posted in the Daily Mail points to a recent outbreak of HIV among  intravenous drug users and involving the use of the high-powered prescription painkiller Opana. 120 drug users in Scott County Kentucky have been as a result of sharing needles injecting the opiod-based pain medicaion. The outbreak promted Gov. Mike Pence to authorize a short term needle exchange program to help prevent further infections.

How this affects the workplace

It’s not difficult to see how this instance of off-duty drug use can affect employers and their fellow employees.

Healthcare: Chanes are these users are employed and likely have health insurance partially subsidized by their employer. The average cost of treating AIDS is somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000. Costs like these will have a trickle up effect and increase the cost of insurance for all employees at their organization.

Attendance

These 120 people are going to need treatment which is undoubtedly equate to additional lost days on the job. It’s also very likely these users will take numerous days off dealing with the physical and mental repercussions of their newly developed disease.

Performance & Accidents

It’s likely that many of these 120 users are addicted as opoid-based medications are highly addictive. It’s proven that addicts are less productive and more prone to making mistakes on the job – even when not impaired.

So not only can we easily put this argument to rest, but we can see why organizations need to stay vigilant in keeping their supervisors trained to spot the signs and symptoms of substance abuse.