Pubdate: Wed, 26 Oct 2005
Source: Southland Times (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2005, Southland Times Company Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.southlandtimes.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1041
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

DRUGS IN THE WORKPLACE

Hardly a day goes by without another reminder that drugs are a plague on 
our society, from police warnings of spiked drinks to yet another report 
from Indonesia that one or more people, usually Australians, face life 
imprisonment or even the death penalty after being caught with a cache of 
the latest pop drug of choice, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.

In this country P labs seem to spread like the spore of thistles, with one 
no sooner shut down than another dozen found to have taken its place.

For middle New Zealand, though, the drug users in our community are a breed 
apart. We may worry that our teenagers and twenty-somethings could be 
persuaded to try a party pill at a nightclub but the real drug users, they 
live in that other part of town, right?

Not any more. Growing numbers of middle New Zealanders, many with jobs, 
homes, families, are using cannabis and other so-called " recreational 
drugs" and, according to Environmental Science and Research (ESR) reported 
yesterday, employers in regions such as Southland are increasingly more 
likely to have such drug users working for them.

Since Air New Zealand won an Employment Court case last year establishing 
the right of employers to conduct random drug tests of their staff, and to 
require job applicants to undergo tests, employers in the main centres have 
become much more vigilant in protecting their workplaces from drug abusers. 
ESR says it now has more than 600 client companies, mostly in the main 
centres, and it carried out some 24,000 drugs tests for them in 2004-05. 
Almost 2000 of those tests were positive for drug use, some 8 percent, 
which is similar to the rates in countries like the United States and 
England. The figure rises to 13 percent for random drug tests in the 
workplace, suggesting that there is a significant group who avoid using 
drugs leading up to a job interview but then return to the habit.

Of particular importance to the south is that ESR included a warning in its 
report that some job applicants appeared to be targeting employers in 
smaller regional areas because they were aware that pre-employment drug 
testing is still not widespread outside the main centres. That is a warning 
employers in the regions need to take seriously.

There is clear evidence that workers using drugs are a danger to 
themselves, their fellow workers and members of the public unfortunate 
enough to come in contact with them while they are impaired.

According to the statistics released yesterday, about 18 percent of tests 
carried out of those involved in accidents showed positive for drugs use.

The ESR report is also a strong indicator that pre-employment drug tests 
and random workplace testing are acting as deterrents where they are 
carried out. In those areas positive tests have reduced over time and, not 
surprisingly, productivity has increased.

There is still debate in New Zealand about whether some "recreational" 
drugs such as cannabis and party pills should be made legal. The recent 
celebrity drugs scandal involving high profile former sports stars turned 
TV entertainers such as Marc Ellis has added a veneer of respectability, or 
at least tolerant acceptance, to the debate for some. But drug use is a 
danger in the workplace, and southern employers need to be on their guard.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom