South Australia’s biggest business lobby says more workers turning up to work on drug ice
GROWING numbers of white-collar workers are arriving at work with signs of drug abuse, particularly ice, South Australia’s largest business lobby says.
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GROWING numbers of white-collar workers are arriving at work with signs of drug abuse, particularly ice, South Australia’s largest business lobby says.
Business SA are calling on all employers in the state to develop drug and alcohol policies.
The calls come as Business SA will later this month launch its first-ever white paper on drugs.
In April, new figures revealed Adelaide remained the country’s ice capital, with the ice crisis gripping South Australia deepening.
The amount of methylamphetamine — known as meth or ice — used in regional SA doubled between August and December last year.
The Federal Government analysis of waste water showed the equivalent of one in 10 people in Adelaide took one dose of the destructive drug each day during October.
Senior policy adviser Estha van der Linden told The Advertiser the business lobby was taking a growing number of calls from SA businesses asking what to do about employees suffering from drug use.
“South Australia is seen as a significant hotspot when it comes to ice use,” Ms van der Linden said.
“We are getting phone calls from businesses saying ‘what do we do?’
“People don’t necessarily want to terminate the workers but they want to know how to deal with it, and help their employees cope.”
Ms van der Linden said drug and alcohol testing was generally only used in high risk professions like construction and mining.
“But what we are finding is that it does not really discriminate … we are seeing workers from aged care, or service sectors, or the professional sector, that are becoming addicted to the drug ice,” she said.
“We are not recommending that all businesses have drug and alcohol testing. But we are saying that businesses should have drug and alcohol policies that allow them to deal with the matter.”
Business SA will be launching Ice at Work, a white paper on dealing with ice, methamphetamine and other drug use in the workplace at a breakfast in late July.