Alaska's high cost of substance abuse: what is substance abuse costing alaska businesses? The problems--and possible solutions.

• Author: Williams, Morissa Lou
• Position: Related article: What you can do to protect your business. - Related article: 'off the street and into treatment'. - Related article: Seeking Solutions: an interview with U.S. senator Lisa Murkowski.

Silver Bay Logging Co. has always had a strict no alcohol, no drugs policy, maintaining this policy for the health, safety, security and success of both employees and the company itself. Substance abuse takes a toll on a company's bottom line, explained General Manager Errol Champion, by causing poor attitudes by workers, friction between co-workers, abuse of equipment and multiple other problems. Among these is the grave risk of accidents. "People need to depend on each other, to be able to cooperate, to get the job done," Champion said.

Champion emphasized the paramount importance of safety in his field. There is no room for the ravaging effects of substance abuse in a logging camp. "There are dozens of catastrophes that could occur if someone is not 100 percent," he said. He added that it is imperative to avoid situations where co workers, relying on one another, might be unaware of a colleague's impairment and might be placed in grave danger without knowing it. Sobriety, he said, "is difficult to enforce," but crucial. The company does both pre-employment as well as subsequent drag testing, including random testing.

Silver Bay's drug-free workplace policies are well worth regarding by Alaska businesses, even those not engaged in such obviously dangerous work as helicopter logging. Silver Bay's policies are prudent economically and protective of employee health.

A HIGH COST TO PAY

Substance abusers in a workplace do tremendous damage to productivity, efficiency and morale, draining away valuable resources and corporate potential, and Alaska employers face the most daunting substance abuse landscape in the country. Alaska is consistently in the highest alcohol consumption per capita bracket in the country, and its illicit drug consumption is also among the highest per capita in the nation.

According to the McDowell Group Report, "Economic Costs of Alcohol and other Drug Abuse in Alaska, Phase Two," substance abuse in 1999 cost the Alaska economy' approximately $614 million. Of this $453 million was calculated to be due to alcohol abuse, and other drug abuse accounted for $161 million. As stunning as these figures are, they are widely acknowledged to be extremely conservative.

The largest share of costs, by far, is in lost productivity: $319 million. In fact, many believe that lost productivity costs are much higher.

According to Gregory Bloss, a public health economist at the National Institute of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, "Substance abuse costs the nation $185 billion a year, and of that the largest share is in productivity losses. But when they estimate those losses, they haven't captured all the productivity losses. What they estimate are the reduced earnings suffered, not taking into account company losses."

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse did a state-by-state analysis and learned that substance abuse problems drain 9.8 percent of the Alaska budget; of every dollar spent on substance abuse, only three cents went to treatment, and only one cent to prevention. But drinking starts young in Alaska, and early drinkers are apt to become problem drinkers. Many of the underage drinkers of today are the lost work force of tomorrow, the adults splintered away from the job force into prisons, into mental illness, into disability. Prevention is key.

For business, the problem isn't just the employee who tries to work under the influence, or who disappears during a bender. It's also the employee who has to miss work or takes endless phone calls because of emergencies caused by substance-abusing family members. It's the poor health of substance-abusing employees who are statistically more vulnerable to a huge array of illnesses, including many cancers. It's the frustration, finally, of sober employees who have to pick up the pieces and fill in the gaps for their substance-abusing colleagues.

Then there is the question of how much business is lost because people avoid business districts where there is chronic public inebriation, disorderly conduct and a fear of crime.

In late summer of...