CANADIAN STATISTICS
The Negative Impacts of Workplace Substance Abuse

Why Tackle Workplace Substance Abuse?

• Estimates of illicit drug use in the Canadian workplace range from 3.4% to 18.9%¹
• Estimates of licit drug use (tranquilizers, painkillers, sleeping pills) in the Canadian workplace range from 3.8 to 50.2% depending on the drug¹
• Employers see substance abuse as contributing to employee absenteeism and low productivity²
• In Canada 86% of CEO's view substance abuse as a serious problem²
• 92% of CEO's believe that substance abuse has a significant impact on the Canadian workplace²
• 23% of Canadian CEO's consider substance abuse policies, solutions and initiatives to be a high priority of their organization²

In a 1992 survey of Alberta worksites³

More than one third (36%) of the surveyed workers reported using an illicit drug at some time in their lives.

• current cannabis use 6.5% of workforce
• current use of crack cocaine 1.1%
• current use of LSD, PCP or other hallucinogens 0.9%

Of those who reported using drugs on the job:

• 4.7% reported daily use
• 13.4% used weekly (but less than daily)
• 17.2% once a month (but not weekly)
• 64.7% less than monthly

^{Employee Opinion:}

Employees acknowledge substance abuse does not need to be at epidemic levels for it to cause accidents or other negative affects. Below are some attitudes of full time Canadian workers towards drug and alcohol abuse.

Response	Greatly Affected	Somewhat Affected	Not at all Affected
Employee Attendance	21%	34%	41%
Morale & Motivation	20%	32%	44%
Your company's productivity	20%	32%	46%
Your company's health care costs	16%	28%	48%
Safety at your workplace	20%	24%	52%
Crime on the job	11%	21%	65%

In terms of solutions, 95% of respondents said they thought drug testing should be allowed at least in certain circumstances.

Support For:
Employee Assistance Programs	77%
Education & awareness	76%
Company drug testing policy	70%
Family counseling	67%
Disciplinary action for policy violation	63%

Source: Alliance for a Drug-Free Canada, Nationwide Study, Gallop 1992

Economic Costs of Workplace Substance Abuse

• Productivity costs, health care, welfare costs in 1985 were estimated at 5.18 billion (1.9% of GDP)⁴
• The total annual productivity losses in Canada in 1998 have been estimated at $4.1 billion for alcohol, $9.6 billion for tobacco and $823 million for illicit drugs⁵
• $397 million estimated costs in Alberta in 1992 due to tardiness, absenteeism and being sent home from work due to substance abuse³

Drug Screening

• A positive result in pre-employment drug testing has generally been found to be related to subsequent accidents in most studies⁵
• Illicit drug users often have high-risk jobs¹
• Illicit drug users may select jobs in which they believe their behavior will be tolerated or not observed¹
• Licit drug use is more common and just as hazardous as illicit drug use

Bibliography

1. Shain, M. The Extent & Nature of Drug Related Problems in the Canadian Workplace, ARF 1994
2. W.M. Mercer Ltd., A Survey of CEO Views on Substance Abuse in the Workplace, (Tor 1990)
3. Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, Substance Abuse and the Alberta Workplace, (Edmonton, Price Waterhouse, 1992)
4. Adnan et al, Statistics on Alcohol & Drug Use In Canada and Other Countries, ARF 1989.
5. Crouch et al, 1989, Sheridan and Winkler, 1989 Zwerling et al 1990