Drug Education and Intervention in the Workplace

Pre employment drug screening is absolutely essential. An employee’s background check is always considered as the first line of assurance in the hiring process. The essential tools for this screening are pre-employment background screening, drug screening, employment verification, etc.

Employee drug testing programs help to protect the health and safety of all employees, and palliate the costs associated with having drug abusers on the payroll. This helps to provide early identification and the ability to refer employees with substance abuse problems for treatment. The programs that are integrated with drug education and treatment not prove to be an effective way of managing substance abuse, but also a valuable tool in achieving positive employee relations, delivering significant cost savings, and providing corporations with a competitive advantage.

However, this type of testing does not go without controversy. The problems that are directly attributed due to substance abuse are rising causing employee turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, on-the-job accidents, health benefit utilization and costs, workers compensation claims, inventory shrinkage and employee theft, lowered productivity and workplace violence.

Drug screening can be used in other applications like testing teens for drug abuse. You can do a high school drug test or athlete drug test. Drug testing in prisons, probation drug testing, juvenile drug testing can also be done. Substance abuse rehabilitation drug testing can be done in treatment centers and rehabilitation centers. Thus, drug screening test can be conducted at various places and help you check the levels of drug intake either by employees, teens or any one.

Pre Employment Screening provides detailed information on Pre Employment Screening, Pre Employment Screening Services, Pre Employment Background Screening, Pre Employment Drug Screening and more. Pre Employment Screening is affiliated with Private Investigator License.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Marlborough

There are always certain images that come to mind when I recall the Vietnam War and my part in it serving in the U.S. Navy. The 1971 song by The Doors, “Riders on the Storm,” fills my head. We were preparing for another WestPac tour, and with that come memories of smoking marijuana and drinking beer. A rather large percentage of the men in my division smoked grass, and often got high while on duty.

I share this with you because I saw video of our soldiers walking through poppy fields in Afghanistan and could not help but wonder how big the problem is now. The military knew it had a bad situation in Vietnam, and in the post-war years made great strides in curbing the problem. Consider this– about 25% of servicemen and women back in the early 1980’s had used illegal drugs. By the end of the 1990’s, it had dropped to 3%.

The Department of Defense (DoD), according to the American Forces Press Service, had looked at the two major aspects of the problem-supply and demand. To reduce the demand for drugs, the military ramped up its educational and deterrence efforts. Understand that the military, unlike society in general, has a huge hammer to drop when its personnel are involved with drugs. Rather than prosecuting someone in court, they discharge them. For those who do not want to leave the military, it’s an effective deterrent.

The DoD also is active in trying to prevent the flow of illegal drugs into the country. Where are the drugs coming from? How are they coming into the country? Getting back to the image of our soldiers in the poppy fields, know that Afghanistan is one of the world’s leading suppliers of opium. From opium comes morphine and heroin. The opium from Afghanistan, in most cases, is shipped through Europe, as narcotic traffickers use a pipeline to ship and sell opium, and that pipeline is also used to smuggle illegal aliens, weapons and money for financing terrorism.

If you thought out the logic of illegal drug use to an extreme, you could probably at some point find a case for asserting that drug use was an act of treason. But consider one point-if I wanted to destroy a country, is it easier and cheaper to do it by destroying that country’s youth through drug addiction, or is it more effective to wage military war? The DoD must protect its ranks and is doing so effectively. U.S. military personnel may unwittingly be supporting our enemies by buying, using and transporting drugs. That cannot be tolerated. There are no excuses.

The military has instituted more sensitive drug testing, which detect a variety of illegal drugs. Drugs like ecstasy are of particular concern, because it’s readily available. In 2000, for example, the military discharged approximately 1000 people for ecstasy use. Newer tests are being developed to expand the “window of detection” for this drug and others, to detect traces of the drug in the urine for longer periods after use.

Still, according to the DoD, marijuana continues to be the most heavily used illegal drug in the military. Chronic use of marijuana leads to long-term effects on the brain, such as memory loss and learning deficits. It’s not a soft drug, it’s a dangerous threat. Exhaustive testing procedures are followed to insure that accurate results are attained, and it is getting increasingly more difficult to “beat” the test, despite a seemingly endless list of things to do to mask the drugs.

The military has a zero-tolerance policy for its personnel. In American society people think this is harsh, but for the military it is an absolute necessity for so many reasons. Our armed forces have an enormous responsibility, and anyone who has a sense of recent history can understand that there is no place in the military for drug use. Our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are in harms way, so any impairment of their ability to carry out their mission is deadly.

The video of the solider in the poppy fields just reminds me of how large the drug problem is. Supply and demand are keys to understanding our drug problem at home. Education in the home, in churches and synagogues, in the schools and in the workplace are vital components in preventing illegal drug use. As for deterrents, we can’t discharge personnel; we can’t lock everybody up; so fighting the cow after it has left the barn is extremely difficult.

One line from “Riders on the Storm” talks about a “killer on the road” and for us that killer is illegal drug use, drug abuse and alcohol abuse. It’s everybody’s problem. It’s a war and we’re all in it.

Ned Wicker is the Addictions Recovery Chaplain at Waukesha Memorial Hospital Lawrence Center He author’s a website for addiction support:

Drug-Addiction-Support.org

Drug Addiction Symptoms

Thirty-five-thousand NATO troops and the international “war on drugs” have done nothing to reduce Afghanistan’s massively successful opium industry. In fact it’s achieved just the opposite heroin is flooding our streets and in some countries it’s cheaper than ever. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that Afghan opium production in 2006 was a whopping 57 percent above 2005, and it’s expected to rise another 15 percent this year.

Afghanistan now accounts for 93 percent of the world’s poppy crop – the source of heroin, morphine and other addictive opiates. If a decent portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the last 30 years’ war on drugs had been used instead to radically expand anti-drug education and successful drug rehab programs, the world would be a far better place.

It has been 36 years since President Richard M. Nixon launched the war on drugs, and the overall result is apparently more criminals making more money than ever – some estimates placing the illicit drug trade at $400 billion to $500 billion annually. But critics of the methods employed in the war on drugs contend that interrupting drug shipments at home or abroad, called “drug interdiction” by the cops, actually expands the drug trade by reducing the supply, thereby raising prices and profits and attracting more traffickers than ever. And more addicts are created too, adding to that most tragic segment of society who, without drug rehab treatment, have no place to go but down.

In Drug War Politics, the authors explain why drug interdiction does not disrupt the drug industry, but instead results in “a guaranteed market, with profits kept artificially high by the U.S. government.” The drug market succeeds because it has the ability to self-reproduce: every time a government attempts to eliminate drug production or smuggling, the traffickers “tap alternative sources of supply.” So even when the US government is successful against one drug cartel, a different group of traffickers open new smuggling routes and gain even more market share. This analysis from over 10 years ago is still true today after a decade of a war on drugs that has left drug education and drug rehab on the short side of support.

But let’s remember that it’s a market, and all markets are based on supply and demand. Spending more of the huge budget for the war on drugs on education and drug rehab would certainly reduce the demand for drugs – and that’s the real source of the drug problem. Someone realized this when the National Drug Control Strategy was issued by the White House several years ago. The Strategy’s three major components are: Stopping Drug Use Before It Starts, Healing America’s Drug Users, and Disrupting Drug Markets. These headings are obviously aimed at education and treatment as well as interdiction. We hear about interdiction endlessly in the news, in television dramas and in movies. So why don’t we ever hear about the other two? Federal funds allocated for drug abuse education and drug rehab cannot compare to what’s spent on law enforcement. Yet some experts say the methods used by law enforcement apparently make things worse.

By really beefing up education programs about the consequences of drug use, Stopping Drug Use Before It Starts would have more effect. And by implementing more drug testing in the workplace and providing plenty of treatment centers with plenty of options for drug users, Healing America’s Drug Users would actually make the difference we need. America’s drug abusers and addicts are in the worst predicament possible. They will only be helped through a vastly expanded, improved and available-to-all network of centers that offers a successful drug rehab program.

Rod is a freelance writer that contributes articles on health.

info@drugrehabreferral.com

Successful Drug Rehab Program

http://www.drugrehabreferral.com

Now-a-days employers are very much concerned about the costs and consequences of inappropriate alcohol consumption by the employees on and off the job. The employers have realized that there is a need for employee alcohol testing at the workplace. For this the employers are using various alcohol testing methods, so that employees come out of alcohol problems and become more productive in their works.

• Need for employee alcohol testing at workplace

There is a need for conducting employee alcohol tests at the work place as the heavy drinking of employees is showing significant negative effects on their productivity, health and also on employer costs and profits. According to Alcohol Test Info, approximately 40% of the industrial fatalities and 47% of the injuries that takes place in the workplaces in US are associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse.

• Reasons for an employee experiencing an alcohol problem

The reasons for an employee experiencing an alcohol problem are inability to cope with underlying problems such as stress, relationship difficulties or depression. The result can be that the underlying problems rather than being addressed are increased by drinking and the alcohol use itself becomes a problem. Employees often use drinking as a way of socializing or bonding whilst some employers traditionally use or include drinking in the process of doing business, e.g. via working lunches.

• Methods for employee alcohol testing

Alcohol can be tested by using several ways such as breath testing, blood testing, urine testing by using the tools such as breathalyzers and oral saliva alcohol tests. Due to the fact that the concentration of alcohol in saliva is very likely to be similar to the blood alcohol content (BAC), saliva is a preferred alcohol testing method. The detection of alcohol in the urine typically employs Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), a direct metabolite of ethanol alcohol. The presence of EtG in the urine is used to detect recent alcohol consumption, even after the ethanol alcohol is no longer detectable by other methods.

The employees under the influence of alcohol on the job, pose serious safety and health risks to themselves and others in the organization. Conducting alcohol test for employees at workplace is very much necessary as it affects their productivity and also the overall growth of the organization.

http://www.drugalcoholtest.com is an online store offering drug testing and drug screening products in several formats including blood, urine and oral drug testing kits. DrugAlchoholTest.com offers FDA-approved urine drug testing kits as well as DOT-approved alcohol testing products. Some of the popular products are Saliva Drug Test, Breathalyzer Marijuana Drug Test Products.

Employers have many reasons for requiring pre-employment drug testing. One of the most obvious reasons is that of safety. Those handling dangerous equipment or those who drive commercial vehicles have a greater chance of accidents or inflicting injury upon themselves or others if they are under the influence. Companies have a moral and legal obligation to ensure that their employees adhere to Federal work-safety guidelines, and pre-employment drug screenings can be an effective tool.

Insurance and health-related absences provide two more reasons for implementing pre-employment drug testing. More than 175 million Americans are enrolled in workplace group health insurance; with an average of a 30% increase in premiums in the last three years, pre-employment drug testing may be one way to cut down on costs. Studies have linked short- and long-term health problems with drug abuse. Drug abusers are more likely to develop respiratory problems and are generally more susceptible to illness. Employers often view drug abusers as irresponsible since many absences can be attributed to the after-effects of drug usage. Employee absences cost employers millions of dollars every year, and many human resource experts suggest that pre-employment drug testing can reduce these costs.

However, some groups argue that pre-employment drug testing is not an accurate way to detect the use of drugs while at work. Many drugs, such as marijuana, will remain detectable for up to three weeks after usage. Other drugs, such as cocaine, may only be present for a few days after consumption. It is often a difficult call for an employer to make but most simply make their decisions cautiously. They often view it as better to not hire someone who occasionally uses drugs than to take the risk of the person using before or during working hours.

According to the Small Business Administration, companies lose an average of $7,000 per drug-using employee per year. This figure is often enough to convince an employer to implement a standard of pre-employment drug testing. In any given year, it is estimated that nearly 50 million American workers are required to have a drug screening. Advances in medical testing have made it quick, easy and relatively inexpensive for employers who wish to use this screening process. Many employers view this is as a simple means of ensuring the well being of both their company and their customers.

Drug Testing Info provides detailed information about employee, random, high school, hair, and urine drug testing and drug testing kits. Drug Testing Info is the sister site of Prescription Drugs Addiction Web.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Damian_Sofsian

A phobia is an intense fear that causes you to avoid the feared thing or endure it with unbearable mental pain. Additionally, a phobia is an irrational fear, in that most people either don’t fear the same thing that you do or fear it to a much lesser degree. Some examples of common phobias are the fear of public speaking, dating the opposite sex, heights, spiders, closed spaces, crossing bridges or tunnels, going to the dentist, swimming in the ocean, flying in planes, and being in a crowd of people.

Classical Conditioning

One of the most powerful techniques used for curing phobias is called classical conditioning. Simply put, classical conditioning involves pairing a particular feeling with a particular event over and over again until the feeling and event become automatically associated with each other.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say that whenever you give a public speech, you feel intense fear. However, you wish to feel intense calm, whenever you give a public speech. How do you accomplish this?

First Step: First you must find something that makes you feel intensely calm – something like two or three shots of whiskey.

Second Step: Then whenever you give a public speech, you drink two or three shots of whiskey just before going onstage. You will undoubtedly feel calm during your public speech.

Third Step: After giving many public speeches under the influence of whiskey, you will automatically associate giving public speeches with feeling calm. Once this happens, you will be able to calmly give public speeches – without drinking whiskey beforehand! Mission accomplished, your phobia is cured!

Sedatives

You say, “Wait a minute! If my supervisor catches me drinking alcohol on the job, I’m history!” Good point. In many workplaces, drinking alcohol is taboo and those found committing the taboo may suffer serious consequences. Luckily, there are other sedatives that are more socially acceptable.

Some examples of socially acceptable sedatives are Remeron, Xanax, Thorazine, Risperdal, Benadryl, Lunesta, and Rozerem. All of these sedatives need to be prescribed by a physician, except for Benadryl. And taking any one of these sedatives is more discreet than drinking alcohol, since it doesn’t leave your breath smelling and your eyes red.

Okay, so which sedative should you choose? Upon researching each sedative, you see that each of them works differently, producing different types of sedation. You end up choosing Benadryl, since it is the easiest to obtain (no physician’s prescription needed) and it sedates effectively.

Benadryl (Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride)

Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) is an antihistamine that is used to relieve allergy symptoms. It is also used as a sleep aid, due to its sedative effects. Benadryl sedates by blocking histamine from its receptor sites. Histamine is a neurotransmitter that promotes alertness, arousal, and allergy symptoms. By blocking histamine, the opposite occurs.

Another way Benadryl sedates is that it inhibits the re-uptake of serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that calms the brain. Neurons release serotonin to send calming signals throughout the brain, but then the neurons need to reabsorb serotonin to turn off the calming signals. Benadryl interferes with this turning-off process.

Phobia Cure

Now that you have a sedative that can be bought over-the-counter, is very affordable, works quickly, and sedates effectively, you are ready to cure your phobias. Pick a phobia. Fear of dating the opposite sex? Okay let’s cure it.

First Step: Strike up pleasant conversations with potential dates, and ask them if they would like to get together with you to do something fun (e.g., bowling, dinner, movies, swimming, etc.). To reduce the chance of rejection, only ask potential dates who already know you and have expressed some interest in you. A good hunting ground is your workplace or any other populated place that you visit often.

Second Step: Take 25-50 mg of Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) a half hour before going on the date. If you must drive a motor vehicle, be careful – Benadryl may cause drowsiness! Your date may drink alcohol, but you may not; because Benadryl increases the intoxicating and sedating effects of alcohol. The sedating effect of 25-50 mg of Benadryl lasts 4-6 hours.

Third Step: Go on many dates, taking 25-50 mg of Benadryl a half hour before the start of each date. Eventually, you will automatically associate feeling calm with going on dates. Once this happens, you will be able to calmly go on dates – without taking Benadryl beforehand! Mission accomplished, your phobia is cured!

Warnings, Drug Interactions, and Common Side Effect

When using any drug, some common sense is needed. Even though Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) is a very safe drug with minimal side effects, I advise you to check with your physician and pharmacist to see if it is okay for you to use Benadryl as prescribed here.

To avoid adverse drug or medical interactions, always read the container label of any drug that you take. Benadryl enhances the effects of alcohol, sedatives, and tranquilizers. Additionally, taking Benadryl tablets and applying Benadryl cream or ointment enhances the effects of each other. If you have glaucoma, an enlarged prostate gland, or breathing problems, Benadryl may worsen your condition.

Since Benadryl may cause drowsiness, be very careful while driving or operating hazardous equipment. To reduce your chances of becoming too drowsy, don’t exceed 50 mg per dose, don’t take more often than every 4-6 hours, and don’t take more than six doses within a 24-hour period of time.

Discussion

Therapy and prescription drugs can be very expensive, especially if you don’t have health insurance. Oftentimes the poorest members of society have to live with mental health problems such as phobias. Affording the best health care, the rich rarely have to live with phobias or other mental health problems. Thus, mental health relates to financial health. However, there is an alternative way to cure mental health problems such as phobias. This way involves using an effective self-help technique with an affordable over-the-counter sedative.

The Guaranteed Cure for Failure, an electronic publication, costs just $19.95 and is available through http://www.theguaranteedcure.com
The Guaranteed Cure Company, founded by Al A. Gammate, specializes in cures that cure.

As most people know, a health care related career is some of the most important work a person can do. Whether a doctor, a nurse, or a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, health care workers strive to keep people healthy. And what could be more important than that?

For those looking into a health care career, the position of Pharmacy Technician may appeal to you. Depending on the workplace, a Pharmacy Technician has a variety of duties and responsibilities, from counting out pills to corresponding with customers, and each duty is important. Even routine tasks, such as labeling bottles, can be of life-or-death importance– as, of course, it’s imperative that patients are given the correct medications in the correct doses.

The hourly earnings of a Pharmacy Technician also vary from workplace to workplace. Pharmacy Techs who earn the most generally work in hospitals, where they earn an average of $13 hourly. The lowest-earning Pharmacy Technicians work in health or personal care stores, with about a $10.50 hourly wage. Obviously, where you choose to work as a Pharmacy Technician matters. And because hospitals and other highly specialized locations pay best, they also look for the best Technicians– that is, Pharmacy Techs with certification.

Training to Be a Pharmacy Technician

While some smaller drug stores, etc., simply provide on-the-job training to untrained Pharmacy Technicians, most higher-paying locations look for Pharmacy Technicians with formal training and certification. To obtain this, most aspiring Pharmacy Techs attend online or classroom training courses. When choosing a Pharmacy Tech course, there are several things to keep in mind, such as length of course, depth of subject matter, and quality of the course (accreditation).

How Long Will it Take?

Most Pharmacy Technician training courses run from about six months to a year, depending on the course. In that time, you will learn the skills required to operate a pharmacy, follow correct pharmaceutical procedures, provide the correct drug dosages, and assist the pharmacist in administrative tasks. This course also helps to prepare you for your PTCB (Pharmacy Technician Certification Board) exam or ExCPT (Exam for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians).

While there are very few current federal and state laws governing the need for Pharmacy Tech certification, having a PTCB or ExCPT certification is becoming the standard. Passing one or more of these examinations is of key importance.

What if I Need to Finish Faster?

If you don’t have the six months to a year it takes to complete a Pharmacy Tech training course, there are several options available. As the certification is more important to potential employers than the formal training, you can choose to focus your time on studying for the test. You can do this either by studying the test materials, or taking one of the variety of short “crash course” cramming sessions offered by some schools. Most of these courses are from a few hours to several days, and are designed to give you all the information you need to pass you PTCB or ExCPT exams.

Looking for a rewarding career as a Pharmacy Technician? Get the training you need at triOS College, renowned for its comprehensive programs and excellence in teaching. http://www.trios.com/career/?section=PharmacyTechnician