Business owners can expect to pay thousands of dollars more per year to employ a worker who uses illicit drugs than to employ a worker who is drug free. Since all industries have a percentage of their workforce using illicit substances, a company can expect to experience reduced productivity, higher absenteeism and more job-related accidents. Small business owners are especially vulnerable to such losses because they often do not have an established drug-free workplace policy, do not require new employees to submit to drug testing prior to employment and have smaller financial reserves to expend if an employee causes a job-related accident or injury while impaired.

Establishing a drug free workplace enhances corporate competition and profitability. In 1998, the United States Congress passed the Drug Free Workplace Act to encourage state support of drug free workplace initiatives with tax, insurance and legislative incentives. The Act also authorizes the U.S. Small Business Administration to award grants to qualified intermediaries for technical and financial assistance to small businesses.

Cost of Employee Drug Use in the Workplace
All aspects of society are harmed by illicit drug use; however, the American workplace is especially impacted. Business owners lose an estimated $100 billion per year because of drug use due to the following expenses:

• Absenteeism –Drug using employees claim an average of three times more sick days than nonusing employees
• Tardiness –Drug using employees are late to work three times more often than nonusing employees
• Accidents – Drug using employees have 3.6 times more job-related accidents than non-using employees
• Insurance costs – Drug using employees file five times more workers’ compensation insurance claims than nonusing employees.

In addition, employees who use drugs are only two thirds as productive as nonusers, and their use contributes to increased thefts, damaged equipment and other unnecessary costs in the workplace. The staggering cost of drug abuse in the workplace has seriously damaged the domestic and international competitive position of America’s businesses.

To learn more about the benefits of establishing a drug free workplace, visit www.drugfreeworkplaces.org.