Drug Testing Should be Implemented in Work Places
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Drug Testing Should be Implemented in Work Places
Introduction
Policy makers in the workplaces should incorporate drug testing as part of the policy to be implemented for the employees and the employers too. Today, it has become a common phenomenon in the developed countries for example in the United States as articulated by RAND Corporation. However, this idea faces a lot of rejection especially from the drug addicts. First is an overview of the drug use and abuse. In this argumentative paper, the researcher takes a stand that drug testing should be carried out in the work places to ensure that work is done with sober minds. At the end of the paper, there are counterarguments for the common defensive mechanisms.
An employee in workplaces who uses or abuses drugs and substance presents many problems to both the industry and his or her family. These problems generally include reduced or lost productivity, lack of job attendance, damages, accidents and the reduced employee’s motivation to work. In the work places especially, drugs abuse causes job loss, engage in illegal businesses like selling drugs and the psychological problems. Research shows that employees object drug testing in work places arguing that it acts as a source of stigma to those found using drugs and other chemical substances. Drug testing should be implemented in work places.
Drug Use and Abuse
Any substance that results to change in the normal functioning of the body is a drug and can lead to addiction of the user. However, some drugs are illegal and include bhang, cocaine and heroin. They are chemicals that interrupt with the normal functioning of the body. Not all drugs are harmful; in fact, some foods contain drugs like vitamins. Drugs will only be harmful if not used as per the doctor’s prescriptions. Drugs mainly refer to medicine meant to cure diseases (Possi 2).
Substance abuse does not mean just drugs but also other chemicals for example glue. Drug abuse is not limited to the use of illegal drugs or not following doctor’s prescriptions but also common chemical drugs like aspirin may be harmful. Chloroquine used by women to procure abortion may also be harmful to the person’s health. Drug abuse therefore, refers to the use of any drug that alters the normal functioning of the body. Abuse of drugs may be fulfilled through the nose, mouth or through body injection. Drugs can be legitimate or illegitimate to use but it is abused when intentionally used to interrupt either the normal functioning of the body physically, psychologically or both for pleasure (Possi 2)
Drug Testing in Jobs
Drug testing should be done in work places. The people to be tested in the work places include the employees and even the employers. In this paper, the focus is on testing of the employees. Drug testing being an increasingly phenomenon in work places should be carried out in all the jobs to all the people. In the United States, managers of jobs related to transportation and security-based works support the idea of drug testing. Managements in the less sensitive jobs however, do not fully support the idea. The level of acceptability of drug testing programs and practices differs from one job to another, from one place to another or from a set of employees to another (Murphy, Prue &Thornton 1991.)
Research by Monthly Labor Review in the United States reports that, drug-testing programs have been used increasingly from the last two decades. It shows that in the year 1985, approximately eighteen percent of the companies in the United States tested their employees on drug abuse. This percentage increased and in the year 1991, it had grown up to forty percent of the companies. In 1988, another survey revealed that most companies in the United States tested their employees and potential employees. Of all the companies researched, 38% of them had tested the applicants to various jobs (French, Hartwell, Rodman & Steele 1). The following section provides three reasons why drug testing is paramount in the work places.
Reasons and Evidence
In the United States of America, there has been a special concern on the drug abuse in work places and the employers are not exempted in drug testing. It was reported that drug use and abuse is common in the labor and is dangerous. It was further reported that workforce who engages themselves in drug and substance abuse, negatively affect their businesses through epidemics such as road and work accidents, lateness in reporting to work and even absenteeism. In extreme cases, the productivity, accuracy and work efficiency reduces tremendously with drug and substance abuse (Zimmer 3). Drug testing ensures that the workers engaged in a particular task are not drug addicts and can do the work with sober minds therefore avoiding work accidents. Drugs free workers are not prone to lateness and absenteeism, are accurate and work efficiently because they work with no drug side effects such as hangovers, dizziness and thirst.
American Civil Liberties Union further reported that many people in the United States of America engage themselves in drug and substance abuse and it has become a major epidemic. The problem of drug abuse is also seen among the employers and all companies ranging from small ones to large corporations. They often experience a problem with drug abuse among their employees and even the potential employees (Zimmer 4).
Another research by RAND Corporation in the United States of America revealed that the drugs and substance abuse causes injuries in the work places. Workplace associated injuries include the accidents when transporting something, hit by an object, falling to hard floor or cuts by sharp machines. Research showed that the drugs and substance abuse especially the use of alcohol and sedatives mainly cause such injuries (Arkes, Pomeroy & Ramchand 15). The aim of carrying out drug testing is to ensure that the people working are free of drug abuse; therefore, injuries associated with drug abuse are minimized or eliminated.
Lateness to work, reasoning impairment, lack of coordination, lack of good personal care, and judgment impairment increase the chances of being injured at work place. These impairments are mainly caused by substance and drug abuse. The use of homicides makes a person develop a provocative behavior. Such people have certain levels of alcohol within their body nervous system. Harmful drugs tend to hide within the nervous system of an alcohol user, which will raise the levels of the provocation (Arkes, Pomeroy & Ramchand 16).
Generally, the signs showing the presence of drug problems in work places are categorized as the job performance and work place behavior. Signs related to job performance are for example reduced work quality and quantity, lack of job concentration, reduced or loss of productivity, chronic absenteeism, disappearing from the job with no reason, inaccuracies and the general laxity in work places. The signs of work place behavior are for example increased financial crisis of the person, solitude in work place, carrying own blames to others, frequent complaints, deteriorated personal health status and the frequent lame excuses for lateness and absenteeism. To combat all these problems, employees and even employers should be tested of drugs and if found guilty, appropriate measures should be taken accordingly. Drug testing ensures that the workers are tested and if found guilty, they are rehabilitated earlier enough to avoid the occurrences of the impairments listed above and the subsequent negative effects on the work they are engaged in like injuries.
Counterarguments
Some drug addicts in work places argue that not only drugs can cause lateness, inaccuracy, injuries or unhealthy states of being but also other things like stress from domestic violence and inappropriate pay or lack of good working conditions. To counter this, drugs cause domestic violence, which in turn causes stress at work. Another argument is that an employee who does not use drugs tends to budget the money and cannot overspend on such leisure. Excessive use of drugs causes hangovers and dizziness during the work time leading to absenteeism, lateness and injuries at work place. Other things like stress do not cause hangovers as countered by the drug addicts.
Alcohol user tend to argue that if a worker abuses drugs partially or moderately, it may not reduce the workers ability to perform a particular task especially the routine elementary works (Arkes, Pomeroy & Ramchand 15). Drugs are addictive meaning that once workers engage in drugs they would not do without it. They will tend to look for more drugs to fulfill their thirst, which at the end of the day one becomes a greater drug addict. Another counterargument to this is in the event of an introduction of a new thing in the work place where such people will not do it effectively because they are used to the simple and repetitive tasks.
Another defensive mechanism that may be given by a drug addict to counter the issue of injuries at work could be that anyone can be injured any time anywhere. To counter this, drug abuse increases the chances of being injured at the work place because the drug addict experiences negative effects of alcohol such as feeling sleepy and staggering. This effect makes someone vulnerable to the workplace-related injuries.
Drug addicts argue that the reasoning impairments, lateness to work, lack of good personal care, lack of coordination, judgment impairments and other impairments are not only caused by drugs but also other things like a person’s natural behavior and emotional problems. The writer counters this by arguing that drugs stimulates a person to be impaired because of the stimulants such as the nicotine which makes one an addict. A drug addict will be careless on his or her personal hygiene.
Conclusion
To ensure quality, accuracy and timely work in workplaces, the people involved in these activities should be tested for any drug abuse to ensure a drug free environment suitable for everyone. Any idea against drug testing should be countered for full support of drug testing by the people concerned. However, drug addicts argue that drug testing leads to stigmatization at work places. The work of drug testing should be left to an independent body that will not compromise any body found engaged in drug and substance abuse.