According to a study
produced by the University of Arkansas/Sam M. Walton College of Business,
employers are losing thousands of dollars a year due to Meth use by
employees. In the final report of The Economic Impact of
Methamphetamine Use in Benton County, Arkansas, commissioned by the
Benton County Methamphetamine Task Force, researchers extrapolated that
each Meth user costs an employer an average of $47,500 annually. In
Benton County alone, Meth use by employees was estimated to cost just over
$21 million annually.
In the Benton
County survey, 4.3% of respondents admitted to using Meth at some time in
their lives; 0.5% to using within the last year; 1.4% to using Meth at
work and 0.9% took unplanned sick or personal days as a direct result of
their Meth use.
The study
examined the six major categories of cost Meth users impose on employers:
Increased absenteeism, lost productivity, increased turnover, increased
employee theft, increased worker compensation claims and increased
healthcare premium costs.
Many workers use
Methamphetamine to stay awake for second jobs or to sharpen concentration.
But use of the drug ultimately costs both workers and employers big.
Positive drug tests
for amphetamines in the workplace jumped 6 percent last year and 44
percent in 2003, even as use of other drugs appeared to decline. "Drug
abuse in the workplace is decreasing, but ironically, methamphetamine
positives are increasing," said Mark de Bernardo, executive director of
the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace in Washington.
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