Under the influence: Colorado's a great place to work for substance abusers, too.

• Author: Bohland, Kathleen
• Position: Includes related article on signs of abuse

COLORADO'S A GREAT PLACE TO WORK FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSERS, TOO.

Many, maybe most, Colorado employers don't realize that some employees with on-the-job performance problems abuse alcohol or drugs.

"If you're a substance abuser, Colorado is a very good place to work and play," said Eugene Ferraro, president of Business Controls Inc. of Golden, a private investigator who works with employers on substance abuse and security issues.

With Colorado ranking higher than other states in substance abuse, particularly alcohol abuse, employers are faced with a touchy task: ignore the sometimes subtle signs or risk a legal quagmire. Employers increasingly use a two-stage approach - learning to recognize signs of abuse, and then helping otherwise good employees get treatment.

About 2.1 million Coloradans were employed in 1998, according to the Colorado Labor and Employment Department. Now consider a 1998 report by the state's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division that found 8% of the state's general population had been dependent on drugs or alcohol within 18 months of the survey.

That means the number of working Coloradans with substance abuse problems likely is in the range of 173,000 people, said Bruce Mendelson, project manager of the state treatment needs assessment contract for the Colorado Department of Human Services Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division.

"It's highly unlikely that the rate of abuse in the workforce, which is a large population, is going to be much different than the rate of abuse in the general population," he said. "Most of the people in our survey would have been employed."

The state's researchers found that nearly all the adults surveyed - 96.2% - had tried alcohol, compared to 82.3% nationally. Forty-six percent of Coloradans tried marijuana at least once, higher than the national average of 3 ] %, and 14.4% of Coloradans tried cocaine at least once, higher than the national average of 10.3%. Respondents were considered substance abusers based on their answers to a series of questions about how often they used drugs and alcohol, based on criteria from the American Psychiatric Association.

"Clearly, the greatest problem in Colorado is alcohol abuse," Mendelson said. "Seventy percent of other states drink less than we do."

Mendelson attributed the high alcohol usage in part to the fact that Colorado is a recreational state with a younger population.

"We rely on tourism," he said. "We see a lot more alcohol consumption in resort areas."

But...