Substance Abuse: Workplace Safety

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that substance abuse by workers is a problem at U.S. workplaces.

According to OSHA, 12.9 million of the 17.2 million illegal drug users age 18 or older were employed either full or part time in 2005. In addition, the agency says between 10 and 20% of workers who die on the job tested positive for alcohol or other drugs.

Drug use by employees can have financial ramifications as well. The Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White House states that the economic cost of drug abuse in the U.S. was estimated at $193 billion in 2007, including $120 billion in lost productivity. Drug use by employees also resulted in $11 billion in healthcare costs in 2007. Some of these costs may be a result of workers with substance abuse problems who move from one job to another in a relatively short period of time, and full time workers with a drug or alcohol problem who are more prone to miss work due to illness or injury.


OSHA says that businesses can help address the avoidable problem of employee drug abuse by implementing drug-free workplace programs aimed at helping workers maintain their safety and health.

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The following states passed marijuana legislation on November 6, 2012. 

Medical Marijuana

Massachusetts
Name of law: “An Initiative Petition for a Law for the Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana”
As it concerns the workplace: Section 7 (D) – “Nothing in this law requires any accommodation of any on-site medical use of marijuana in any place of employment, school bus or on school grounds, in any youth center, in any correctional facility or of smoking medical marijuana in any public place.”

Recreational Marijuana

Colorado
Name of law: Colorado Constitution Section 16 – “Personal Use and Regulation of Marijuana”
As it concerns the workplace: Section 16(6)(a) – “Nothing in this section is intended to require an employer to permit or accommodate the use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, sale or growing of marijuana in the workplace or to affect the ability of employers to have policies restricting the use of marijuana by employees.”

Washington
Name of law: “An Act Relating to Marijuana” (Initiative 502)
As it concerns the workplace: Initiative 502 amends current Washington legislation to decriminalize recreational marijuana, but it does not address whether it requires workplace accommodation. It does mention, however, that the Washington State Institute for Public Policy must create a series of reports to be released consecutively over the next few decades on the effects of marijuana. These reports must specifically include the effects on the workplace. Beyond this, the law is mute.

We remind our clients that under federal law, marijuana is an illegal drug. We do not anticipate that the three state laws will impact Drug Free Work Place Policies, however, we will continue to monitor this topic.