Workplace drug testing can push users on to harder drugs, expert says

Drug testing in the workplace can actually push users on to harder drugs, an expert says – but it has its benefits if used correctly.

Drug testing should be used as a tool to start conversations, not to punish workers, according to an expert on drug and alcohol use in the workplace.

Retired Adjunct Professor Ken Pidd, formerly with the National Centre for Education and Training on addiction at Flinders University, said poorly-applied testing regimes could force users underground and stop them from accessing the help they needed.

Prof Pidd, a mining and construction worker before moving into academia, said drug testing had an important role to play in helping employees find treatment options.

“Drug testing is a useful tool, but some workplaces see it as a panacea, a cure – it’s not,” he said.

“It’s a detection device. Tests should be used as a tool to identify workers who are at risk, and then provide pathways into treatment.”

Prof Pidd said that, ironically, there was some anecdotal evidence pointing towards the rolling-out of drug testing causing users to switch from cannabis to amphetamine and meth.

“Particularly where urine testing was used, people knew that cannabis stays in urine for a long period of time, where amphetamines clear up quickly,” he said.

Prof Pidd some industries were more prone to drug and alcohol issues than others.

“Across different industries there are high-risk and low-risk industries,” he said.

“People that work in health and education tend to be low risk, people who work in construction, hospitality tend to be high risk. Part of that has to do with demographics – those industries attract younger people, more single people, young males – particularly in mining and construction.”

Prof Pidd said drug and alcohol trends had evolved from his time in the construction and mining industries.

“Back in those days there was probably a lot more alcohol and drug abuse,” he said.

In those days mining camps had full wet messes with spirits, full-strength beer.

“Today, the biggest problem is amphetamine, including methamphetamine, followed by cannabis. But the workplace is a reflection of the community in general, and working conditions can push the use of things like methamphetamine higher. People might use alcohol to relax and methamphetamine for fatigue.”

Prof Pidd said there was also a growing issue with painkiller abuse.

“Methamphetamine tends to be people under 40,” he said.

“Painkiller issues tends to be in older people, and that’s often because of the physically demanding work people have done over time. Painkillers help them get by. A plumber or a shearer in their 50s, with their knees and backs and elbows gone, are on $100,000 a year and if they stop work they’re suddenly down to $400 a week.”

Prof Pidd said an increasing willingness to discuss mental health issues in the workplace provided more opportunity to also address drug and alcohol issues.

“Mental health issues and drug and alcohol use is very much linked, but it’s often a chicken or egg situation – which one came first?” he said.

“In some cases the drug issue comes first, in other cases the mental health issues come first and the drugs are used to self-medicate.

“But one of the good things about the focus on mental health is that it allows you to have a discussion around alcohol and drugs without confronting people directly.”