Chapter I.
Changing Patterns of Drug Use in America
G. Drug Abuse Affects Business Productivity
According to the 1997 NHSDA, 6.7 million current illegal drug users were employed full-time; this number represents 6.5% of full-time workers aged 18 and older. Drug users are less dependable than other workers and decrease workplace productivity. They are more likely to have taken an unexcused
absence in the past month; according to a SAMHSA study released in 1997, An Analysis of Worker Drug Use and Workplace Policies and Programs, 12.1 percent did so compared to 6.1 percent of drug-free workers. Illegal drug users get fired more frequently (4.6 percent were terminated within the past year compared to 1.4 percent of non-users). Drug users also switch jobs more frequently; 32.1 percent worked for three or more employers in the past year, compared to 17.9 percent of drug-free workers. One quarter of drug users left a job voluntarily in the past year.
