Last updated : December 16, 2024
Heroin addiction takes an enormous toll on users and on the people closest to them. The user experiences detrimental physical effects and the loss of aspirations and relationships. Friends and family of the addict worry over the user’s health and may become the victims of theft and violence. Even employers and co-workers feel the negative effects. The employee who uses heroin creates an unsafe work environment and is prone to excessive absenteeism, causing multiple disruptions in the workplace.
Heroin addiction and overdoses are growing problems in the U.S. Often, heroin addiction comes from a dependence on pain pills, which are more expensive and more difficult to obtain. Those who are addicted to pain pills frequently discover that they can get many of the same effects from heroin much more easily and at a lower cost. For some users, heroin is one drug among many substance abuse habits. Regardless, the overall price paid by the user and society is high.
Since the majority of illegal drug users are employed, it follows that employers in every industry should be concerned about whether or not their workers are using heroin or are abusing other substances. Addicts depend far more heavily on their health insurance, raising costs for their employers. Moreover, the employee who habitually uses heroin is far more likely to file a workers’ compensation claim. This makes the company’s liability insurance rates skyrocket. Even worse, an employee who is working under the influence is more frequently involved in workplace accidents, causing a hazardous situation for themselves, their co-workers and the public.
As the use of heroin grows, more people are feeling its damaging effects. Heroin addiction is found in quiet neighborhoods and in the center of urban areas. Children just entering their teenage years are experimenting with it, and so are middle-aged people who have been battling addiction issues for years. In Ohio alone, officials discovered that heroin overdoses accounted for 22% of all drug-related deaths in the year 2010. Since then, use of the drug has only grown more prevalent. Its use has become so widespread in Ohio that emergency responders are now equipped with life-saving doses of Narcan, an effective heroin antidote.
Narcan is known as a powerful tool for battling heroin-related deaths. Use of Narcan is imperative because a heroin overdose is extraordinarily quick. Without administration of Narcan, most users who overdose on heroin die before being transported to the nearest emergency medical center.
Of course, it would be best if heroin users never overdosed at all. Many users are adept at hiding their dependence, but people close to them may be tipped off by extreme weight loss, a tendency toward deceptiveness and withdrawal from relationships and activities.
The best way to determine whether or not someone is using heroin is with a drug test. A low cost, expedient drug test provides definitive results every time. It’s the only no fail way to determine what is in a person’s bloodstream. With this information, it’s easier to help the user get the assistance they need to begin the journey back to sobriety.
A drug test can also help an employer decide which course of action to take. If a drug free workplace policy is in use, then the positive drug test can become the basis of an adverse employment action. With a single inexpensive drug test, the company can protect itself from the potential for sizable financial liability based on the perils associated with employing a higher risk worker. Determining that an employee is using heroin or other substances allows the employer to protect themselves and their other workers.
