A million workers a day go to work with drugs in their system

0llusion

0llusion

Bluelighter
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Feb 23, 2009
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http://www.metro.co.uk/news/903841-a-million-workers-a-day-go-to-work-with-drugs-in-their-system

The use of narcotics has shot up by 43 per cent in just five years, according to analysis of almost 1.7million random tests in 856 British workplaces.

Cannabis, cocaine and opiates were found to be the most popular drugs.
People working in haulage, the police, manufacturing, construction, retail, commerce, healthcare, professional bodies, sport and government agencies were checked by drug-testing firm Concateno.

Workers aged 25 to 34 were most likely to test positive for Class A drugs such as cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and methadone. Men were three times more likely to test positive than women.

Drug use among employees now stands at 3.23 per cent – or one in every 30 staff – compared to 2.26 per cent in 2007.

Dr Claire George, Concateno’s laboratory director, said: ‘These are conservative figures when you consider how many companies do not have a screening programme in place.’

The tests were carried out as part of random or pre-employment programmes, rather than following a suspicion of drug use. All were conducted in organisations that had an established drugs policy, meaning workers know they could be tested.

Testing positive for drugs can be grounds for disciplinary action or even dismissal for gross misconduct in safety-critical industries.

Niamh Eastwood, of Release, which campaigns for changes in drugs laws, said: ‘Testing should not be used outside of safety-critical jobs. Unless it begins to affect performance, then what people do in their private lives is up to them. If someone takes drugs on a Saturday night, by Monday they will be sober of the drug but still test positive.

‘If someone’s drug use is becoming a problem it should treated as a medical issue.’
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Stop the press: 6 billion or more people use drugs daily - some are stigmatized while others are not
 
A couple of years ago, Vecktor said that drug testing was not very common in the UK. Maybe it's becoming more common now that there is a private company that stands to profit from it?

I've noticed that said company floods the news media with stories about drug-use crises, which makes their service appear necessary.

Niamh Eastwood, of Release, which campaigns for changes in drugs laws, said: ‘Testing should not be used outside of safety-critical jobs. Unless it begins to affect performance, then what people do in their private lives is up to them. If someone takes drugs on a Saturday night, by Monday they will be sober of the drug but still test positive.
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If someone advocated the same viewpoint in the US, he'd be called a liberal leftist communist progressive apologist lunatic pussyboy.
 
Was quite surprised to see the only viewpoint printed was quite reasonable. Whatever your stance on people's rights to take substances you don't want someone operating a wrecking ball off their face...fun as that sounds =D
 
‘Testing should not be used outside of safety-critical jobs.'
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Fuck yeah it shouldn't.

Of course, the issue of road safety is still left open (don't know what it's like overseas, but here in the US most people drive themselves to work), but if people dose carefully, they can stay high for most of the day and be good to go at quitting time %)
 
Those million people that go to work with drugs in their system are probably the only people that can get through their working day with a smile on their faces as they feel no pain.
 
from the above:

The analysis was carried out by a drug testing company, which has produced a report of its findings. There is a clear conflict of interest because the company has a commercial interest in promoting the use of drug testing.
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Which is what I was saying.
 
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