Instituting a drug-free workplace along with mandatory drug
testing for new hires can be costly for the business, however drug use and
abuse can also be costly as well due to absenteeism, accidents, downtime,
turnover, theft, morale, and loss productivity.
According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence,
Inc. “Drug Abuse has an estimated cost
of $81 billion annually” and implementing a drug-free workplace can help cut
down on that cost. Absenteeism is
considered one of the major problems associated with drug abuse at the
workplace because it has a direct effect on productivity and “it also
compromises employee safety because workers who lack familiarity with
procedures and work environments and who substitute for absent employees, put themselves
at greater risk for accidents than workers who are not absent (Goodman &
Garber, 1988)” as quoted in (McFarlin, 2001).
Accidents are more likely to occur when employees’ abuse drugs because of
the effects that drugs have on the human brain individuals that are under the
influence will have difficulties concentrating on their job that can result in
mistakes that can be detrimental. Drug
abuse can “kill and/or damage brain cells” ("Drugs change your
brain," 2003) making it very difficult for an individuals to function
normally at the workplace which could directly impact productivity because they
are having difficulties understanding the functions of the job which can result
in increased downtime because individuals will try their best to avoid actually
doing the work. The turnover rate
increases because many people that abuse drugs have a difficult time maintaining
employment because they are more focused on their addiction so if employers
require mandatory drug testing that it is possible to cut down on the turnover
rate along with absenteeism and productivity.
Theft is a major problem in all organizations for many different
reasons, however it can be more of a problem with drug abusers because they may
not have the funds to feed their addiction so they will steal from their
employer. The morale of the company
“refers to employees’ shared attitudes toward identification with the elements
of their job, working conditions, fellow workers, supervisors, and general
management” (Crossley, 2007) and if drug abuse is present in the workplace it
could bring down the morale of the company due to conflict that could arise
amongst employees. The morale of the company is extremely important because it
provides employees with a source of encouragement, therefore instituting
mandatory drug-testing can help boost the morale by showing the employees that
the company is concerned about their well-being.
Monday, May 25, 2015
Monday, May 11, 2015
Past and Current Trends
Drug abuse is “ the harmful or risky use of legal or illegal drugs
or the use of legal drugs in a manner or amount inconsistent with medical
advice” (Bedi & Duff, 2008) and has
become an increasing problem in the United States over the past few decades due
to the development of so many different illicit drugs. This paper will identify past and current
trends of the use and abuse of substances in the United States as well as
discuss when the use of illicit drugs may be considered culturally appropriate
and analyze health and social problems in the United States that occur due to
drug abuse and addiction.
Past and Current Trends
The use of illicit drugs such as opium, marijuana and cocaine have
been around since the beginning of time and were mostly used for religious and
medical purposes and there was no knowledge of the effects these drugs would
have on the mind and/or body therefore individuals during the earlier times
were unaware that the use of these drugs would become habit-forming. Morphine is “the active ingredient in opium”
(Levinthal, 2012 p.10) and is used as a pain reliever as it was in earlier
times, however it has the potential to be addictive like many other drugs. Cocaine is “extracted from coca leaves and
was used as a stimulant and antidepressant” (Levinthal, 2012 p.10) in earlier
times, however at some point in time it began being used for recreational
purposed and soon became illegal. Many
drugs that were developed in earlier times for medical and religious purposes
eventually became known as bad because they became illegal and most people made
efforts to not have any association with such drugs like cocaine, heroin and
marijuana because of the negative perception.
As time went on there was still a negative perception of many
drugs especially once congress created the National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) in 1974 which “is the federal focal point for research on drug abuse and
addiction” (Costello & Vleck, 2009) and provided a way to keep track of drug
use in the United States so that research could be done to try and decrease
drug problems to prevent national epidemics.
With the National Institute on Drug Abuse being created it allowed
statistics to be developed based on what types of drugs are commonly used and
by whom. According to the National
Institute of Drug Abuse “Marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in
this country. In 2003, 14.6 million
people were current users of marijuana” (Costello & Vleck, 2009). The use of marijuana has become accepted in
society unlike other drugs because many people believe that it is created from
a natural plant that will not cause any harm to the human mind and/or body,
which is not true because all illicit drugs have some type of negative effect
on the human mind and body.
When Illicit Drugs May Be
Considered Culturally Appropriate
Many illicit drugs were accidentally discovered because doctors
were looking for different methods to treat their patients, therefore illicit
drugs were considered appropriate for medical purposes in earlier times. Once practice in which illicit drugs are
considered culturally appropriate is shamanism which is “the philosophy and
practice of healing in which diagnosis or treatment is based on trance-like states,
on the part of either the healer or the patient induced by hallucinogenic
drugs” (Levinthal, 2012 p. 9). Cocaine
comes from “the coca plant and is indigenous to the Andes region of South
America, and has been used by indigenous cultures in that area for thousands of
years for the benefit of increased endurance and medical purposes” (Johnson,
2011). Glaucoma is considered to be the second leading cause of blindness in
the United States and research has discovered that marijuana helps “eases the
pressure behind the eye, which causes blindness in glaucoma sufferers” (Weale,
1994) therefore debates have been issued in many states on legalizing marijuana
for medical purposes.
Health and Social Problems
due to drug abuse
Illicit drugs have the ability to change an individual’s
consciousness, mood, senses, and/or thought processes which can ultimately
result in drug abuse “from the complex physiological and psychological
interactions of the substance” (Schlaefer, 2008). According to the National Institute on Drug
Abuse “researchers have found a connection between the abuse of tobacco,
cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy, amphetamines, and steroids and the development of
cardiovascular diseases” (Costello & Vleck, 2009). HIV/ Aids is another health problem
associated with drug abuse when individual are using needles to inject drugs
because often they are sharing contaminated needles.
There are several social problems associated with drug abuse such
as isolation because many drug abusers tend to separate themselves from
everyone. Violence is also another
social problem according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse “at least half
of the individuals arrested for major crimes including homicide, theft, and
assault were under the influence of illicit drugs around the time of their
arrest” (Costello & Vleck, 2009).
Along with violence, sexual abuse, child abuse and driving under the
influence are social problems associated with drug abuse that can be
detrimental to the health and well-being of individuals.
Conclusion
Drug use has been present since the beginning of time although
many of the discoveries were accidental because doctors were trying to develop
treatments for their patients or individuals were curious about certain plants
as they “observed the unusual behavior of animals that fed on those plants”
(Levinthal, 2012 p.9). As time has went
on the discovery of many drugs prompted classification on drugs due to research
where it was determined that many drugs are illicit when improperly used which
is a form of drug abuse that is an contributing factor of many health and
social problems.
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