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Work Group Reports on
Demand Reduction --
Summary of Overview,
Discussion, and
Recommendations
The Workplace
Facilitators:
- Dr. Joseph H. Autry III, USA
- Acting Deputy Director,
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- Dr. Marco Polo Peņa-Corona, Mexico
- General Coordinator, Institutional Committee for Health Promotion Against Addictions, Mexican Social Security Institute
Presenters:
- Ms. Mary Bernstein, USA
- Director, Office of the Secretary, Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance, Department of Transportation
- Ms. Guillermina Natera, Mexico
- Head, Psychosocial Research Department, Mexican Institute of Psychiatry, Ministry of Health
Overview:
Although other types of drug abuse are a problem in both Mexico and the United States, Ms. Bernstein noted that alcohol abuse is the most serious drug problem in the workplace in both countries. Moreover, workplace alcohol and other drug abuse has implications extending well beyond the individual employee and the work environment itself. In addition to diminished productivity and increases in industrial and vehicular accidents linked to drug use, she noted that employers are potentially legally liable for the behavior of drug-impaired employees. These combined factors provide added incentive for companies to develop better drug programs on the job.
According to Ms. Bernstein, Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are important in dealing with employees' alcohol and drug abuse, but they are largely limited to larger companies in the United States and are quite rare in Mexico. Even in the U.S., companies employing less than 50 employees rarely have EAPs, she noted. In the absence of such programs, formal education and prevention programs and drug-oriented training for supervisors usually does not occur. Ms. Bernstein explained that drug testing in connection with hiring is a deterrent to drug use and noted that habitual drug users are less likely to seek employment with companies that have testing programs. However, pre-employment testing provides no assurance of continued drug abstinence, she said.
In Mexico, participants noted that the usual practice in most companies when an employee is found to be using drugs is to simply fire him or her. A very few companies have experimented with more elaborate modes of intervention, although some have had some success in reducing alcohol abuse by encouraging their employees to "count their drinks" (i.e., to be more moderate in their alcohol consumption). Ms. Bernstein argued that one barrier to these efforts is that heavy drinking is often socially acceptable, especially for males, even among those in supervisory roles. There are, however, strict screening requirements for becoming a licensed commercial vehicle driver in Mexico, she noted, and Mexican drivers who are later found to have impaired performance as the result of alcohol or drug use are usually peremptorily dismissed. In the United States it was reported that certain occupational groups are more likely to use alcohol and drugs than other groups. For example, construction workers, helpers, laborers, auto mechanics, and workers in food preparation are more likely to use alcohol and drugs than those employed as dental health aides, child-care workers, teachers, administrative support staff or law enforcement personnel.
Ms. Natera began by noting that epidemiological surveys have reported a higher alcohol use among people who work than among the jobless population. These studies also estimated that a great proportion of Mexican workers have problems associated with alcohol. She noted that generally data on alcohol consumption impact and its connection to the workplace is scarce and that even fewer prevention programs have been developed to treat alcoholism.
Ms. Natera added that because drug use is increasing among the general population in Mexico, particularly among workers, it is necessary to:
- Strengthen a culture among employers supporting the notion that that investing in health is better than spending on disease.
- Identify the workplace as a setting for prevention for the most productive stratus of society.
- Evaluate prevention and treatment needs in high-risk enterprises such as leather-goods shops, paints factories, maquiladoras, transportation businesses, etc.
- Strengthen company-worker-family-community prevention links.
- Develop indicators to evaluate cost-benefit of prevention programs.
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