Firms Urged to Test Staff to Identify the Drug Users

SCOTTISH firms are being encouraged to test staff for drugs amid soaring use by middleclass employees.

The traditional focus of the war on drugs has been on deprived inner city estates.

But there is mounting evidence the problem has moved closer to the boardroom, with a huge increase in white-collar drug use.

Now a Scottish Executivefunded anti- drugs agency is urging bosses to test workers they suspect of drugs misuse.

Scotland Against Drugs has issued the new guidelines in the wake of disturbing findings on the scale of office drug use.

A survey of personnel staff found nearly a fifth had reported drug use in their workplace, while up to 15 per cent of drug tests carried out by one company came back positive.

The main drug detected in that case was cannabis, but there are also fears about the growing availability and use of cocaine seen by many professionals as the trendy drug of choice.

Drug misuse is thought to cost the Scottish economy billions of pounds every years, leading to some of the country’s major firms understood to include the transport giant First Group and drinks company Scottish Courage to seek advice from Scotland Against Drugs.

The agency’s director, Alistair Ramsay, said the traditional image of drug users no longer held true, with at least 10 per cent of them in fulltime work.

Other figures show staff who use drugs have a 60 per cent higher rate of absenteeism than nonusers and are 50 per cent more likely to be sacked.

The new guidelines recommend staff should be tested when there is a ‘reasonable suspicion’ they have been using drugs. The guidance also says companies should make efforts to screen applicants for signs of drug use at the recruitment stage.

Scottish Tory justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said the rise in drug-taking at work reflected wider problems.

She said: ‘This is yet another example of how the Executive’s policy on drugs is failing.’ The rising tide of cocaine use among middleclass professionals has seen a surge in the number of strokes reported in people in their 20s and 30s.

A Scottish Daily Mail investigation earlier this year revealed police forces north of the border had seen seizures of cocaine rise tenfold in the space of one year.

The easy availability of cocaine has seen its price plummet, while its reputation as the chosen drug of celebrities adds to its allure.