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Opioids and cannabis remain the most commonly detected drugs in Otago workers’ systems, but cocaine appears to be massively on the rise in the rest of the country.
The latest quarterly release of the ‘‘State of Workplace Drug Use’’ of The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), released last night, showed of those Otago workers detected with illicit drugs in their system, 46.3% were using THC (cannabis) substances, 25.4% detected positive for amphetamine substances and 41.8% with opioids.
Other substances detected included cocaine (4.6 %) and benzedrine (1.5%). The survey does not add up to 100% because more than one substance could be detected in a person.
TDDA chief executive Glenn Dobson said one of the main reasons why it put out these quarterly reports was to give employers some hard data to help in decisions around keeping their workplaces safe.
‘‘From our perspective and looking at the whole numbers, drug testing is traditionally more common in blue-collar work than white-collar industries.
‘‘However, that’s changed over the years and certainly what these stats show is that there’s improvements of drugs in the workplaces and some of those drug types are increasing quarter on quarter.’’
Opioids were a lot more ‘‘popular’’— more than double the national average (18.2 %) — in the Otago region than elsewhere in the country, and part of this was down to availability, he said.
The classification also included some substances that were legal and prescribed.
While the percentage of cocaine detected remained relatively low nationwide (2.6%), it still received the biggest year-on-year increase in detection (68%), Mr Dobson said.
THC (cannabis) was by far and away the most commonly detected nationwide, at 64%.
‘‘From a workplace perspective our message is pretty simple and pretty clear.
‘‘First and foremost, being forewarned has been forearmed.
‘‘So having this knowledge, knowing this data and making informed decisions in the workplaces based on this data so that workplaces know they have an up-to-date and robust drug and alcohol policy.’’
Mr Dobson said drug use within work time was a safety issue and a productivity issue.
‘‘The reason these drugs are a danger in the workplace is because they affect the person’s ability around decision-making, around cognitive skills, around the reaction between the brain and the physical responses and so forth.
‘‘So from a safety perspective, that’s huge and that’s the space that TDDA live in.
‘‘But from an employer perspective, I agree that it will have a negative impact on productivity and also a negative impact on culture within the organisation as well.’’