MOUNT VERNON — If there is a positive outcome to the drug epidemic sweeping the county and the country, it’s that the community is coming together. That is part of the message that Karen Pierce had for area employers who attended a seminar hosted by the Knox Substance Abuse Action Team on Tuesday.
Pierce, director of policy development and training for Working Partners, a consulting firm that specializes in helping employers create policies for a drug-free workplace, also told the employers that they can do things at the policy level to reduce drug and alcohol use. Those things come together in what Pierce calls a comprehensive drug-free program. The elements of a good program include:
- Written policy and operations
- Employee education
- Supervisor training
- Drug testing
- Assistance to the employee
“It’s not good enough to say that the employee needs to tell us if they have a drug problem,” she said. “What is the supervisor to do if an employee tells you?”
Citing statistics about the increase in drug use, including that 70 percent of Americans testing positive for an illicit substance are in the workplace, Pierce said, “When you tell me you are having a hard time finding a negative test, there are numbers that support that.”
The top three causes of increased drug use are marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine. “We’re in kind of a weird spot right now,” said Pierce regarding marijuana. “We moved from drug testing being an invasion of privacy; now when I go talk with people, they say marijuana is medicine.”
She told the employers they should be looking at the broader issue of addiction and recovery. “Sometimes when we focus on a specific drug, we get into trouble,” she said.
That broader issue includes looking behind the positive test to the issues that spark the drug abuse and recognizing that addiction is a disease with the same risk factors as heart disease and diabetes. She said that one reason drug abuse is difficult to treat is because there is a stigma attached to it.
“We still call people drunks and junkies and stoners and lazy, but addiction can happen to anyone,” she said.
Pierce said employers have several options if an employee tests positive for drugs:
- Termination: In Ohio, unless they are subject to a higher authority, employers are allowed to terminate an employee if they test positive.
- Best practice second chance: Ask if they are willing to get an assessment, and then hold their position until they test negative or a counselor says they can come back.
- Respond on a case-by-case basis: “This makes me nervous. I still want to know what are you making the decision based on? Pain? Number of times testing positive?”
- Other: The employee can return if they test negative, and no counselor is needed.
“If you terminate, they tell you they have a [drug] issue, or test positive, you should have resources and help you can give them to help them,” she said.
Pierce said there are three elements of a successful second-chance system:
- Employee readiness: The employee needs to be ready to make some changes in his or her life.
- Employer readiness: A second-chance policy that includes a written, specific agreement that the employee signs, parameters on follow-up testing, and a strong management team to support the employee without enabling him or her.
- Provider readiness: The counselor has to know how to work with the employer since the employer is holding a position open for the employee. The counselor also has to make recommendations such as follow-up testing procedures.
Pierce said that less than 50 percent of employers surveyed believe treatment works, but in reality, the overall success rate of treatment is better than the success rate of angioplasty, a frequent treatment for heart disease.
“They say you can’t lead a horse to water, but doggone it, you can make them thirsty,” she said.
Following Pierce’s presentation, seven panelists shared their experience with drug use. Five spoke from a business perspective, two from an employee-in-recovery perspective.
Kim Comer, human resources manager at Replex Plastic, said the seminar was beneficial. Replex Plastic has a second-chance policy.
“We are in the process of rewriting our drug-free policy. This is a nice follow-up to make sure we are doing the right thing,” she said. “We only recently had an issue [with drug use.] Typically, we don’t have any problem with that.
“I appreciate the panelists who are struggling with addiction. I feel for them. It affects everybody. Bless their hearts they are able to deal with it on a daily basis.
“I fear for our community,” she continued. “I am glad to see that there are a lot of [drug use] numbers going down, but the [overdose] deaths are a sad situation for Mount Vernon. If communities don’t get a hold on this, where are we going to be?”
The seminar was held in Jetter Hall on the campus of Mount Vernon Nazarene University. KSAAT plans to offer a seminar in the fall on the role faith-based groups can play in treating and preventing substance abuse.
