Substance abuse in the workplace is a serious liability for employers. Every year in this country, drug and alcohol abuse are major contributors to workplace injuries and fatalities, plus they drain employee productivity and costs employers billions in lost productivity and health care.
That bottom line is coupled by the fact that more than half of the approximately 19 million Americans with substance use disorders (SUDs) are active in the workforce, according to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. (This figure may be conservative, since an estimate by the National Council on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse suggested that 70% of Americans who use illegal drugs are employed.)
