Small Firms Little Help to Substance Abusers

Three out of four drug abusers hold down steady jobs and most of those work at small businesses--companies that are least likely to offer drug treatment in their health plans, a private research group said Thursday.

Nearly 60% of drug-abusing employees work for companies with fewer than 500 employees, according to the report by Drug Strategies, a Washington policy research institute.

Many businesses find the cost of drug treatment prohibitive, the group said.

“Drug and alcohol abuse are everywhere, but employers hesitate to invest scarce resources in employees with substance abuse problems,” the report says. “Many are skeptical that treatment can work.

“Even employers who have seen lives change through treatment understand that recovery from addiction takes time and relapse is common,” it says. “High turnover in some industries is another reason that business owners are reluctant to make long-term investments in treatment programs for individual workers.”

Ten percent of Americans age 18 to 25 use alcohol heavily and 15% have used illegal drugs in the last month, according to the report.

“In repair services, trade and construction, at least 10% of full-time employees ages 18 to 34 use illicit drugs,” it says. “The auto manufacturing, retail and services sectors also have major concerns about substance abuse, as do the legal and medical professions.”

The study, based on data from the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Unit Survey, shows that men accounted for 76% of patients in privately funded substance abuse treatment offered by their employers in 1993. Women represented 24%.

Seventy-four percent of patients in treatment were between 21 and 44 years old, the report says, up from 62% in 1980.

“Men age 35 to 44 are the most rapidly growing group in treatment, and after a steady decline in the 1980s, the number of patients over 45 began rising in 1989,” the report says.

“In contrast, just 11% of treatment patients in 1993 were under age 21--a 34% drop from 1989--with the steepest decline among patients age 12 to 17,” it says.

That drop in treatment by minors is of concern because recent studies have indicated growing drug use among young people, the group said.