European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 25, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Print of no return ? at an0tla times synd cil firms help employees kick the habit by Fred Bayles associated press b y Don s own admission he was a  technician for a Fortune 500 company inthe South he spent his nights popping owners and his Days stumbling through his Job. It was getting worse and i did t realize it because i was walking around in a fog he said. People at work saw Don had a problem. But instead of losing his Job he was encouraged to seek therapy. After a Hospital stay and out patient counselling Don was Back on the Job. I m very grateful to the company said the 35-year old worker who asked not to be identified by his real name. We both benefited. I still have a Job and they did t have to fire me and train someone  while lie detectors urine tests and even drug sniffing dogs dominate the headlines companies Are increasingly taking a different approach to halt drug abuse among workers offering help to employees who want to kick their habits. As Many As 20 million of the nation s 108 million workers Are now covered by employee assistance programs that offer drug treatment. This alternative to hotly debated drug testing also gives managers a Chance to save a valuable asset a trained worker who. Otherwise might be lost to drugs. You Don t throw out a $50,000 copy machine because you be been having troubles with it said Lee Wenzel corporate manager of employee assistant programs and human services at Honeywell corp. You say what can we do to fix it " drug abuse on the Job has become a National problem. The . Chamber of Commerce estimates it costs the nation s businesses an estimated $60 billion in lost productivity absenteeism workplace theft and medical costs a year. Some think it can Best be combated by programs that screen workers for drug use. The president s commission on organized crime has suggested drug testing for All Federal employees and government contractors. Earlier this year the publishing broadcasting conglomerate capital cities Abc inc. Proposed using dogs to ferret out drugs in the newsrooms of Kansas City newspapers. The company dropped the idea after protests by outraged employees. But on the Job testing is controversial. Unions oppose it. The american civil liberties Union Calls it a prescription for violating the rights of tens of millions of innocent  the Choice of Many companies is to try to help drug abusers rather than Weed them out. It makes More sense to treat an employee than to pay for All those complications of an illness or set up a search and destroy program and fire the employee said Gary Graham vice president and medical director at Kemper life insurance co. Donald Godwin associate director for occupational programs at the National Institute of alcohol abuse and alcoholism said drug testing often raises hard questions. Testing and screening will Tell you someone smoked a joint six weeks ago but then you Are left with the problem of what you should do about it he said. Godwin estimated that 10,000 programs across the nation offer help with various problems to As Many As 20 million workers. The numbers have grown. Twenty five percent of Fortune 500 companies surveyed by Godwin s office in 1972 had some Type of employee assistance program. By 1979, the last year for which statistics Are available 58 percent had such programs Many growing out of corporate projects that offered counselling and amnesty to employees with drinking problems. Now the focus has dramatically expanded to provide help for anything that would affect Job performance said Gail Gleason Milgram a professor and director of education and training with Rutgers University s Center of alcohol studies. It is an awareness by companies that individuals have a variety of  while these problems can Range from marital Battles to financial blues companies Are finding that one third to one half of employee troubles Are drug related. Bruce Blythe an Atlanta regional director for human affairs International inc., which runs employee programs for 400 corporate clients such As Exxon general electric and Georgia Pacific said 13 percent of the workers who receive counselling suffered from alcohol or drug abuse. An additional 14 percent have family problems related to drug use. Many employees seek help on their own Blythe a sparmn9 drop of liquid top photo hangs suspended from the tip of a hypodermic Needle similar to Fiose used by heroin addicts. A Young pot smoker above smokes the end of a marijuana joint. Estimated 90 percent of the clients came in voluntarily. The remainder Are referred by supervisors who spot warning signs like poor attendance or a decrease in work Quality. Most employers Don t mandate that the person use the program said Blythe. They Are typically set up where employees Are encouraged to but not forced to take the  while Many companies offer in House therapy including their own chapters of alcoholics Anonymous and narcotics Anonymous a majority of the assistance programs take place outside the workplace. Therapy can Range from a month s stay in the Hospital at a Cost of $12,000, to a few hours a week in out patient therapy. Don spent 42 Days in the Hospital and eight weeks in counselling. The company paid the Bills and his salary during his treatment. At first i was afraid that it might Cost my Job. Then i found out it was very confidential and Anonymous and i realized there was help he said. Tim Plant manager of employee assistance services at the Hazelden foundation a Minneapolis organization that works with 75 companies said anonymity is important to the Success of a program. People have to believe that their privacy and confidentiality Wil be protected particularly in the treatment of substance abuse he said. The alternative is that you have someone sit on the problem and Hope that it goes away. That does t pay off for the individual or the  hypodermic syringe cocaine a Fine White powder used by physicians for local anaesthesia cocaine is used illegally in the United states to relieve fatigue and hunger and to provide a feeling of euphoria. Cocaine users inject sniff or Swallow the drug. It is derived from the leaves of the coca Shrub which grows wild in Peru and Bolivia and is cultivated elsewhere. For centuries South american indians have chewed coca leaves mixed with ashes and Limestone to enable them to withstand strenuous labor and hunger. When ingested it Anes theties the stomach cocaine use can temporarily improve mental and physical Effort. But after its effect wears off it can produce depression. Repeated use can become psychologically habit forming and can cause hallucinations suspiciousness and belief in special Powers. It can also result in nausea. Sleeplessness and loss of weight. Larger doses can cause convulsions. Depression of True entire nervous system and death from respiratory failure. Chicago Tribune graphic sources encyclopaedia Bri Armica world Book encyclopedia and concise encyclopedia of the sciences drug testing of Federal workers United press International for All Federal workers an idea president Reagan is seriously considering is a growing practice that All sides say is the wave of the future. The critical question is How to do it this Spring three major Federal agencies the drug enforcement administration the customs service and the general services administration will begin on the Job testing of their employees. But the president s commission on organized crime went a step further recommending to Reagan that All Federal workers and those who do business for the government be tested for drugs As a condition of employment. The panel however did not say who should be tested or How often. Hoping the move would reduce the . Market for drugs the commission also urged that All private employers do the same. Last year More than 25 percent of Fortune 500 firms required urinalysis tests two thirds of them during pre employment physicals. The military has required mandatory urinalysis since 1981. Drug testing is really on the upswing said Allan Adler Legal counsel for the american civil liberties Union. First the burgeoning interest in the private sector alone now the government. It s really going to  Claude Buller president of comp chem a Raleigh n.c., company that does More than 250,000 tests for the military each year said there is an unmistakable trend toward testing which accounts for $60 million to $80 million in business each year. Critics say the tests Are intrusive and violate an employee s constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizures. But for Many employers including general motors 1mb, Exxon the new York times and Mobil Oil it is a question of profits lost in accidents absenteeism and Low productivity caused by drug use or abuse. Pale Masi a professor at the University of Maryland who consults employers on the Issue said problems will arise when the government like private employers tries to put test programs in place. Most testing involves urine samples mixed with a chemical that reacts with a specific drug. A computer analyses the results. Comp chem says its two step process mixing a radioactive agent with the specimen is 99 percent accurate if done by trained personnel. The tests however do not show whether a person is impaired or How Long the drugs have been in his system. Critics claim some of the tests which can find cocaine traces for two Days after use and marijuana for several weeks Are handled improperly causing false positives and falsely tagging people As drug users. A highly reliable screening test the equivalent of a fingerprint would Cost about $15 to $25 a person Buller said and the second phase of testing runs up to $75. Masi and Buller agreed that specific guidelines Are needed on what employers will test for How often and what to do if the results Are positive. The main ingredient in marijuana for example stays in a person s system for up to 30 Days. The commission report estimated that about 25 percent of the . Population has tried marijuana with about 20 million people using it once a month. To ensure a drug free workplace the ultimate objective according to the commission the government would have to test millions of Federal workers once a month for marijuana an unlikely Prospect. The result is random testing. The Navy tests All employees three or four times a year and the army once a year. But Masi said an employer just can t come in and tap someone on the shoulder say it s your turn,1 without looking at the Legal  Federal statutes Are in place dictating that employees found to have drug or alcohol problems must receive counselling. A recent decision by the Merit systems Protection Board said they have to get it at least twice. And the most important question what do you do when an employee tests positive for drug use f an employer wants to fire someone Buller said to defend the data in court you have to establish an ironclad Chain of custody on the  that requires the More expensive tests specialists handling the procedure and a Clear Cut policy. His company has effectively turned Back 300 court challenges to the testing. Page 14 the stars and stripes tuesday March 25, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 15