Worker Drug Use and Workplace Policies and Programs: Results from the 1994 and 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Worker Drug Use and Workplace Policies and Programs: Results from the 1994 and 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

1.5 Overview of Chapter Contents

This report is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 2 presents the percentages of full-time workers, age 18-49, who reported current illicit drug and heavy alcohol use, by sociodemographic characteristics and also by occupation and the establishment size of workplace. Chapter 3 presents the relationships between current illicit drug or heavy alcohol use and a variety of negative workplace outcomes. Chapter 4 examines workplace information, policies, and programs concerning drug and alcohol use. Chapter 5 addresses the prevalence of different types of workplace drug testing programs and workers

attitudes toward these programs. Chapter 6 presents multivariate models of current illicit drug use and current heavy alcohol use among workers. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes important findings, discusses the limitations of this analysis, and suggests directions for future studies.

Figure 1.1 Trends in Current Illicit Drug and Heavy Alcohol Use Among Persons Age 18-49, by Employment Status, 1985-1997

Note: Heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of at least five days in the previous 30 days.

Table 1.1 Percentage and Estimated Number of Past Month Illicit Drug and Heavy Alcohol Users, Age 18-49, by Year and Employment Status


	Current Illicit Drug Use			Current Heavy Alcohol Use			Total Labor Force
Employment Status	Percent Reporting Drug Use	Estimated Number of Users	Employment Status Distribution	Percent Reporting Use of Alcohol	Estimated Number of Users	Employment Status Distribution	Estimated Number	Distribution
1994
Total	8.4	8,622,000	100.0	8.3	8,501,000	100.0	102,424,000	100.0
Full-Time	7.6	5,969,000	69.2	8.4	6,576,000	77.4	78,745,000	76.8
Part-Time	9.0	1,495,000	17.3	7.0	1,156,000	13.6	16,530,000	16.1
Unemployed	16.2	1,159,000	13.4	10.8	769,000	9.0	7,149,000	7.1
1997
Total	8.6	8,969,000	100.0	7.7	8,072,007	100.0	104,900,000	100.0
Full-Time	7.7	6,316,000	70.4	7.6	6,247,000	77.4	81,840,000	78.1
Part-Time	9.3	1,488,000	16.6	6.3	997,000	12.4	15,970,000	15.2
Unemployed	16.5	1,165,000	13.0	11.7	827,000	10.2	7,055,000	6.7

Note: Heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of at least five days in the previous 30 days.

Source: Office of Applied Studies, SAMHSA, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 1994B, 1997.


Table 1.2 Trends in Percentage of Persons, Age 18-49, Reporting Drug Use, by Employment Status, 1985-1997
Employment Status	Current Illicit Drug Use										Current Heavy Alcohol Use¹
Employment Status	1985	1988	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1985	1988	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Total	16.5	10.2	8.9	8.9	8.0	8.1	8.4	7.9	8.4	8.6	8.5	6.5	6.8	7.6	7.0	7.0	8.3	7.5	7.4	7.7
Full-time	17.5	10.4	8.6	7.9	7.4	7.7	7.6	6.8	7.7	7.7	11.2	8.1	8.6	8.5	7.8	8.5	8.4	7.8	8.2	7.6
Part-time	15.8	12.1	10.6	10.8	8.7	10.6	9.0	10.2	9.7	9.3	7.4	7.3	6.8	6.9	6.9	6.4	7.0	6.5	5.9	6.3
Unemployed	27.6	20.5	15.5	18.7	16.6	14.0	16.2	15.7	15.1	16.5	6.9	7.8	6.4	11.1	10.7	11.5	10.8	11.1	11.1	11.7



Employment Status	Past Year Illicit Drug Use
Employment Status	1985	1988	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Total	26.5	19.5	18.4	17.4	16.0	16.6	15.9	14.3	14.9	15.0
Full-time	25.5	18.9	17.9	14.8	13.9	14.8	14.1	13.0	13.8	13.7
Part-time	22.8	18.7	16.5	16.4	16.6	17.8	16.4	16.9	18.0	16.3
Unemployed	35.8	27.1	25.7	29.4	25.7	21.9	25.4	24.4	26.7	26.6

¹ Current heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of at least five days in the previous 30 days.

Source: Office of Applied Studies, SAMHSA, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: 1985-1997.

Table 1.3 Percentage of Full-time Workers Age 18-49 Reporting Current Illicit Drug Use, by Type of Drug, 1994 and 1997


Type of Drug	Percent of Total Population		Percent of Persons Reporting Any Current Illicit Drug Use
Type of Drug	1994	1997	1994	1997
Marijuana	6.4	6.0	84.6	77.5
Cocaine	0.9	0.8	11.3	10.7
Psychotherapeutics ¹	1.4	1.5	19.1	19.0
Hallucinogens ²	0.5	0.8	6.8	10.3
Heroin	0.1	0.1	0.7	1.5
Inhalants ³	0.4	0.3	5.0	4.2
Marijuana only	4.8	4.9	63.9	63.0
Any illicit drug other than marijuana	2.7	2.9	36.1	37.0

¹ Psychotherapeutic drugs are any prescription-type stimulant, sedative, tranquilizer, or analgesic used for nonmedical reasons; over-the-counter drugs are not included.

² Hallucinogenic drugs include a number of illicit drugs such as LSD, Peyote, Mescaline, Psilocybin, PCP, and Ecstasy.

³ Inhalants are fumes or gases that are inhaled to produce intoxication. They include a number of substances such as glues, aerosols, butane, ether, amyl nitrite, nitrous oxide, and solvents.

^a Difference between estimate and 1994 estimate is statistically significant at the .05 level.

Source: Office of Applied Studies, SAMHSA, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 1994-B and 1997.