Users costing U.S. businesses billions.

• Position: Corporations using written tests to identify employees who use drugs

The presence of drug abuse on the job is so pervasive, users are sapping the strength of the U.S. labor force even as competition from foreign companies is increasing. The government estimates that between 10 and 23% of all American workers use drugs on the job. In the typical company, two out of 10 employees have a serious drug or alcohol problem. To say that drug use on the job is at epidemic proportions is to put it mildly--it's more like a raging pestilence, claims industrial psychologist Gregory M. Lousig-Nont.

The old argument that what workers do on their own time is their business no longer holds water. In an experiment conducted on airline pilots by the Stanford University School of Medicine, it was shown that those who smoke marijuana may have difficulty doing work that demands quick reactions for 24 hours after indulging. Reports have shown that people who use cocaine on Friday night after work still can have traces of the drug in their system when they return to work on Monday.

Drug abuse on the job costs U.S. companies up to $100,000,000,000 a year in lost productivity, absenteeism, and theft. It is not only businesses that suffer losses--many of these costs are passed on to the consumer.

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