Nation IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Workplace Drug Abuse on Decline

The percentage of drug abuse among American workers and job applicants declined for the fifth consecutive year, according to a company that tested 2.2 million of them last year. Even so, 8.8% of the people tested in 1991 came up positive, said SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories in Philadelphia. The company said 11% of the workplace drug tests were positive in 1990, down from 12.7% in 1989 and 13.6% in 1988. Despite the trend, “it is of great concern that we found 56,000 people on the job or looking for jobs positive for cocaine last year,” said firm President Harry Groome.