What has changed?

For onsite devices, the major changes to the Australian drug testing standard introduced in 2019 are below:

1. The cut-off level for THC has been reduced from 25ng/mL to 15ng/mL.
2. Oxycodone (40ng/mL) has been added as a separate drug group to be tested for.

Over the past 18 months, Safework Health has encouraged our oral fluid drug testing clients to review their drug and alcohol policies and procedures and consider how these changes may impact their program.

New independently verified device now available

The ToxWipe 7 has been investigated for all drugs as per the Australian Standard, including benzodiazepines, and meets all the new standard’s performance criteria. As such, it is considered ‘fit for purpose’

Safework Health is accredited to Appendix A (onsite testing procedure) of AS/NZS 4760:2019. This means we can offer you a fully accredited end to end process. This includes onsite testing to sample collection, transport and dispatch of non-negative samples to the laboratory for confirmation testing.

This provides you with the highest level of confidence for your business in the case of any Fair Work challenges.

For more details on the new ToxWipe 7, please visit our Oral Fluid Drug Testing page.

Safework Health has been confirming onsite non-negative oral fluid samples in the laboratory to AS/NZS 4760:2019 since April 2020. From a laboratory confirmation testing perspective, the major changes from the 2006 oral fluid Standard to 2019 are:

• Confirmation of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) at 5ng/mL
• Confirmation of oxycodone at 20ng/mL

For companies using Safework Health for drug testing services

If you are using Safework Health to deliver your drug and alcohol testing program, we can use the ToxWipe 7 or an alternative product.

If you have not already reviewed your drug and alcohol policy and procedure now is a good time to do so. If you need some assistance, please give us a call to see how we can support you.

Once your policy and procedures are updated, it is important to communicate the changes to your workers. This is particularly important if you are also changing any associated disciplinary actions. This is an opportunity to re-educate your workers on the effects of drugs and alcohol, whilst also sharing any associated changes to your policy.

Please contact your account manager if you need support and advice, or call us to speak with our customer service team.

For companies conducting their own in-house drug testing

If you have an in-house drug and alcohol testing program, the ToxWipe 7 is available for purchase from us now. For more information and a quote contact our customer service team now.

However, the government heavily regulates access to medicinal cannabis under the Therapeutic Goods Act (TGA) of 1989. Only health professionals with Commonwealth approval could obtain the drug for treatment purposes.

Each state has its own restrictions regarding the production and sale of medicinal cannabis. But the general rule applies that no private individual can obtain their own supply of the drug.

Queensland’s Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, welcomed the passing of the new law. However, some health professionals have expressed their concern about the simplification of the prescription process. They prefer that doctors and patients still explore other avenues first before considering the use of medicinal cannabis.

Doctors have to consider the potential dangers of medicinal cannabis abuse. If the drugs were to become more readily available, it could increase people’s risk for driving impairment.

We also have to take a closer at the effectiveness of such medications. There should be a clear distinction between medicinal CBD (cannabidiol) and (tetrahydrocannabinol) THC. This is very important since CBD has no substantive impairing effects unlike THC.

Meanwhile, CBD primarily affects CB2 receptors. When bound, these receptors don’t release dopamine. However, they do help reduce inflammation, nausea, and neuropathic pain.

CBD can also bind with CB1 receptors but only very weakly. You need to pair CBD with THC before it can properly bind with a CB1 receptor. This will help reduce some of the psychoactive effects of THC such as sedation or euphoria.

CBD is considered to be the compound more tolerated by the body, even in large doses. Its known side effects include dizziness, fatigue, appetite changes, weight loss, and diarrhea.

On the other hand, THC causes temporary side effects such as red eyes, dry mouth, increased heart rate, anxiety, and slower reaction times. It can also result in memory loss and coordination problems.

Both CBD and THC can cause psychoactive effects on users. These side effects are not considered fatal, but they can affect an individual’s health and well-being.

The researchers made the following observations:

• Substantial impairment lasted for more than 4 hours after using cannabis-based drugs.
• When driving, participants were more susceptible to lane weaving and had slower attention focusing.
• Participants compensated for their ‘stone’ condition by reducing their speed and maintaining safe car spacing. However, they are still more likely to lane weave.
• Drivers who used a combination of CBD and THC performed worse than those that did not.

Many cannabis users claim they are safer drivers than alcohol users. This isn’t necessarily the case. Stoned drivers will try to compensate for their condition. However, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re still likely to drive unsafely.

What does this mean for medical marijuana users? If you’re using true CBD oil without any sedatives, you have nothing to worry about. Pure CBD oils aren’t detectable through drug testing. You have to be careful though since many dubious CBD oil products contain some amounts of THC. Some of these products even contain only cannabis extracts in coconut oil.

Meanwhile, THC medications have the same detection window as for smoked cannabis. THC is detectable via urine testing for up to 72 hours. However, this time frame doesn’t correlate with the one needed to establish a person’s impairment.

Oral fluid testing offers a better way of determining impairment. Saliva analysis can detect THC between 8 to 24 hours, depending on the dose. If a person tests negative via oral fluid, then they are assumed to be unaffected by impairment.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you with your workplace drug and alcohol testing needs.

Before you start checking everyone in your company, there are a couple of things you have to remember. Unless you’re a medically-trained professional, you won’t be able to fully diagnose a person for drug addiction. You can only identify certain patterns of behaviour in your employees that could suggest potential drug use.

There’s also the possibility that some of the symptoms you may find are linked to other health conditions. That’s why it’s important that you create a proper action plan before you act on your suspicions. It doesn’t hurt to always be careful.

Your workers are the backbone of your business. That’s why it’s important that you’re aware of their health and well-being. If you suspect anyone in your organisation is suffering from substance abuse, it’s best to act now and intervene. The safety of your employee and the future of your company may depend on it.

For help in conducting drug and alcohol testing at the workplace, contact us today.

What exactly are benzodiazepines and how can they affect workers’ health and well-being? Our chief toxicologist Dr Phil Tynan breaks down the history and profile of these psychoactive drugs.

Unfortunately, the early enthusiasm for benzodiazepines was somewhat misplaced. Benzodiazepines turned out to be just as addictive to patients as barbiturates. The psychoactive effects remain even for continuous use of 3 to 4 weeks.

Benzo abuse can also result in serious health conditions for users. Unmanaged withdrawal can lead to life threatening crises associated with severe fitting. Meanwhile, mixing BZOs with alcohol or opiates increases the risk of fatal overdoses.

Despite these health risks, benzodiazepine use still has its benefits. Benzos play a legitimate role in helping patients deal with insomnia in the short term. They are also used as potent anti-seizure agents and as treatment options for alcohol withdrawal.

These days, doctors still rely on benzodiazepines to treat patients suffering from panic attacks and generalised anxiety disorders.

To combat this, the government named Xanax as a controlled drug. By restricting BZO prescriptions, authorities believed it would help prevent doctors from over-prescribing and onselling the drugs. It would also discourage patients from ‘doctors shopping’, or seeing multiple treatment providers to get medical prescriptions illicitly. The government hoped to stop the diversion of medical BZOs.

At first, these regulatory efforts seemed to have worked. The country saw a noticeable decrease in benzodiazepine use. However, this gave way to a new wave of BZOs hit.

The problem resurfaces with benzo analogues in the black market

Instead of diverting benzos from medical supplies, smugglers have resorted to selling ‘pressed’ versions of the drugs. Pressed BZOs are drugs that were turned into liquid or powder. Drug makers then cut and press these substances into pills and sell them as knockoffs on the streets.

To make matters worse, drug dealers are now selling new analogues of current BZOs. They have nearly-identical drug molecules and mostly similar effects with known benzodiazepines. However, Australian laws do not cover these new benzo analogues.

One example is Flubromazolam, which is an analogue of Valium. This drug is 10 times more potent than Xanax and can cause serious harm to users.

Benzodiazepine abuse can often lead to workplace accidents. Workers who use the drugs can experience an 81% post-usage impairment when performing complex tasks, especially spatio-temporal tasks.

Benzo use significantly impairs working memory and limits the ability to pay attention. It also prevents proper risk-assessment since the drugs tend to block a person’s ability to worry.

Urine tests are a more effective way of drug testing for benzodiazepine use than oral fluid tests.

Only a small amount of BZOs make it to oral fluid specimens, causing oral fluid tests to miss the presence of the drugs.

Benzos also have almost the same detection window and impairment period. However, some of the new analogues are more difficult to detect and can only be assayed during a laboratory drug test.

Stopping benzodiazepines abuse may not be as simple as cutting off drug supplies. As long as there’s a significant demand for the drugs, people will find a way to get their benzo fix.

One way to address the issue is by raising awareness on the dangers of BZO dependence. It is recommended that workplaces implement a drug and alcohol education and training program.

By letting people know how benzodiazepines can damage their health, they’ll be more keen on avoiding them.

Your workers are the backbone of your business. That’s why it’s important that you’re aware of their health and well-being.

If you suspect anyone in your organisation is suffering from substance abuse, it’s best to act now and intervene. The safety of your employee and the future of your company may depend on it.

For help in conducting drug and alcohol testing at the workplace, contact us today.

As with any new standard in workplace drug testing, the change to the new requirements will evolve over the coming months as device manufacturers, on-site testing providers, regulatory bodies and others respond to the updated standard.

There are a number of significant as well as minor changes required to how an on-site saliva test for drugs of abuse is tested, collected, transported and analysed in a laboratory.

A. Donor Informed consent

Drug testing companies should inform donors of the procedure for addressing disputed results. The expansion of collection procedures requires collectors to do the following:

B. Tamper evident seals

If a donor places their initials on the seal of their test sample, they also have to put their initials on the Chain-of-Custody form.

Safework Health already requires donors to place their initials on seals and sign the Chain-of-Custody form. There won’t be any major changes to its existing procedures.

Under AS/NZS 4760:2019, the Chain-of-Custody form should feature additional items. This includes the expanded donor informed consent and recording transport device.

A. New screening cut-off levels

AS/NZS 4760:2019 sets new cut-off levels for substances identified during drug screening.

• THC screening cut-off is now down to 15 ng/mL from the initial 25 ng/mL
• Oxycodone levels now has a cut-off of only 40 ng/mL

B. Verification

The new standard requires drug testing companies to verify their sample transport devices. For our part, Safework Health already verifies its existing devices, such as Quantisal.

A. Reportable cut-offs

Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand has updated its guidelines for reportable cut-offs involving an oral fluid drug test.

THC

AS/NZS 4760:2019 reduces the reportable cut-off for THC screening tests from 25 ng/mL to 15 ng/mL. It also lowers the threshold for confirmatory tests from 10 ng/mL to 5ng/mL. However, both moves have raised significant concerns regarding the potential impact of passive cannabis smoking.

Cone et al report (2015)

In 2015, Cone and fellow researchers came across similar findings to those of Niedbala et al.

In their own report involving an average OF THC 6 passive subjects, Cone et al found that all passive THC exposures were undetectable 75 to 90 minutes after use. They came across the result regardless of the subjects’ exposure levels.

One can derive a 90 minute to 2 hours limit for potential passive cannabis exposure. Any collection after this period would be ascribed to active use of the substance. Concerns regarding passive smoking can therefore be negated.

Screening OF THC cut-off at 15 ng/mL

The process may be able to capture some passive smokers only if they are:

• Exposed to high [THC] cigarettes ~ 11.3% Δ 9 -THC.
• Staying in a very poorly ventilated environment NOT a standard room.
• Tested after 90 to 120 mins of exposure or if they are in a THC contaminated room.

Confirmatory OF THC Cut-off at 5 ng/mL

The process may capture passive smokers if they are:

• Staying in a poorly ventilated environment.
• Tested within ~ 3.5 hrs of exposure or if they are in a THC contaminated environment.

These guidelines will not be applied under any other circumstances.

B. Format change

All reports should clearly specify that the security seals for specimens are intact. The statement effectively replaces the practice of appending ‘CoC complete’ on collected samples.

Collectors need to record the devices used for OF collection, transport and storage (e.g. Quantisal).

Testing reports will now use AS/NZS 4760-2019 as their concluding standard reference.

Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand have set guidelines in cases where there is a disputed result. Drug testing companies are required to do the following:

• Recommend replicate analyses
• Obtain the Donor’s consent before they send disputed results for reanalysis.
• Issue disputed results to the donor, the requesting authority and to the laboratory that originally tested the sample in question.

Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand define a Collector as someone who has successfully completed training for the following:

• Oral fluid collection
• On-site drug screening (if applicable)
• Handling, storage and dispatch of specimens

A Collector also needs to show that they are competent in executing their duties.

NOTE: Courses for Collectors may be provided by the Vocational Education and Training (VET) Quality Framework, the Faculty of Clinical Forensic Medicine (RCPA), the New Zealand Qualification Authority. This also includes programs that offer equivalent training.

Safework Health provides our own accredited training courses for oral fluid collectors.

Safework Health has begun introducing the new guidelines established with AS/NZS 4760-2019. We started adopting the new guideline in October 2019. Our team is working with clients to help familiarise them with the changes.

If you have questions or want to discuss AS/NZS 4760-2019 more in depth, feel free to contact us today.

You can also buy a copy of the new Standards Australia or Standards New Zealand guideline HERE.

References:

• Niedbala et al J Anal Toxicol. 2004 Oct;28(7):546-52
• Niedbala et al. J Anal Toxicol, 2005 Oct;29: 607-15) .
• Cone et al  J Anal Toxicol 2015 Jan; 39(1):1–12

Beyond the already stated financial losses, it is your legal obligation to provide a safe and healthy work environment for your employees.

Especially when you consider the effects of drug and alcohol use at work — lack of focus, poor concentration, aggression, unstable moods, lack of coordination, and unwanted sexual advances.

Clearly none of us wants an employee to exhibit these highly inappropriate behaviours. We also don’t want anyone else on our team to experience such bad behaviours from their coworker.

Legally, speaking, you cannot force an employee to undergo a test if it’s against their will. Doing so could lead to civil liability.

Trying to reason or threaten your employee will rarely have any positive results. At best you’ll get a definitive ‘no’ from your worker. At worst you’ll cause a revolt and outright destruction in your entire team.

It is best to stick to well established rules and procedures. This is where a well-written and clearly-worded drug and alcohol policy comes in.

David Dilger, an employment and safety lawyer at Edge Legal, believes companies could insist on drug testing as part of employment as long as it is reasonable.

Workers don’t necessarily have to see any mentions of an alcohol and other drugs policy in their contract. They could find something like ‘you’ll comply with our policies and procedures as lawful and reasonable direction’.

An employee has to comply to a workplace drug test, provided that it is a lawful and reasonable direction, Dilger expplained. If they were to refuse, they could face disciplinary action and might even lose their job.

In some cases, a worker can get fired not because they failed a drug test but because a court or tribunal found them to be non-compliant with a reasonable policy.

Dilger added that more modern alcohol and other drugs policies prioritise work health and safety rather than penalising employees.

Workers who refuse to participate in drug testing could be considered in breach of their duty. Their employers might take their refusal to be going against a policy meant to ensure the safety of their workplace.

In Australia, it is perfectly legal to conduct workplace drug testing at work. However, crucial to effectively enforcing it is establishing a workplace drug and alcohol policy beforehand.

Why? Because it is important that your employees are aware of the following:

• Reason for drug tests
• Who will do the testing
• Drug testing schedules
• How often the drug test will be carried out
• Drug test types
• Accepted blood alcohol limits
• What to do in the event an employee tests positive for drugs or exceeds accepted limit for alcohol
• Disciplinary measures for employees who will refuse to be tested

This is legally the only way to go about drug testing. The methods, frequency and consequences must be clearly stated. Every employee should be fully aware of these guidelines. Meanwhile, as an employer, you have to follow all of the things you’ve outlined in your drug and alcohol policy.

Similarly, if you update your processes, you must reflect the changes in your policy, inform everyone affected and have proof you have done so.

If you do not have a sound drug testing framework for your workplace, you simply cannot enforce any kind of drug testing. Even if an employee tested positive, you would likely not be able to apply any kind of consequences.

One of the best ways to do this is by teaming up with an experienced workplace drug and alcohol testing provider.

Having a capable and reliable drug testing partner can help protect your company from liabilities related to workplace substance abuse. It can also make your workers feel more comfortable and trusting of your policy.

Substance abuse in the workplace can become a major obstacle to your company’s success. It can compromise your sustainability and productivity. It can also threaten the safety of your employees and customers.

According to the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), each year Australia incurs an estimated:

• $6 billion in lost productivity due to alcohol,
• $2 billion in absenteeism due to alcohol, and
• $1 billion in absenteeism due to drug use.

In a recent study, NCETA also found that a company’s working environment has the potential to either prevent or worsen AOD use and/or abuse in the workplace.

Let’s talk more about that later. For now, consider this…

1. Keep Your Alcohol and Drugs Roadmap Handy

The road to success can be a bumpy ride. You’re bound to encounter sharp turns, blind spots, and barriers along the way. Alcohol and drug use in the workplace can complicate your journey all the more.

But that’s where your drug and alcohol policy guidelines come in. The more comprehensive your policies are, the easier it will be for your company to navigate through trickier terrain.

That’s a lot to ask. What’s more, it’s downright irresponsible to assign that big of a job to people who may not be sufficiently prepared for it. And all on top of their regular work!

Remember our three questions at the start of this article? You have to think of who your designated AOD drivers are, their current skill level, and their improvement plan.

You need drivers specifically trained to understand AOD. Only then can they interpret your AOD roadmap effectively, fairly, and consistently.

Initial alcohol and drug training will equip your drivers with some skills to handle the task.

3. Make Upskilling a Habit

But training is never a one-shot deal. Whether we’re talking multiplication tables, dance steps, or even card tricks, people need constant repetition to make things stick.

Your managers will require even more periodic drug and alcohol re-training to help them master their new skills. That’s how they’ll become full-fledged advocates and enforcers of your policies.

Continual training workshops will keep your supervisors updated on matters concerning illicit drugs. These may include new drugs in the market, newly discovered risk factors, and even breakthroughs in testing and intervention.

All in all, alcohol and drug training programs will put your designated drivers in a better position to identify factors that may lead to drug and alcohol abuse.

They say knowledge is power. And the NCETA study mentioned above, which involved 100 supervisors who undertook drug and alcohol awareness training, seems to prove this adage.

According to the study, NCETA researchers found that the subjects were able to proactively change their workplace environment for the better.

And of course, employees steeped in more toxic work cultures are far unhappier. This means they’re more likely to use alcohol and drugs as coping mechanisms.

Armed with this realization, plus their newly acquired knowledge and tools, the managers became more adept at:

• spotting the signs and symptoms of addiction
• identifying workplace stressors (e.g. bullying, which can be a precursor to substance abuse)
• promoting positive habits and behaviours
• reducing workplace risks and discouraging unhealthy habits

As a result, the NCETA study found that the managers were able to effectively improve work conditions and anticipate AOD triggers in their respective companies.

The Best Balance: Training Across the Board

Clearly, specialised drug and alcohol training empowers managers to maintain a drug-free environment.

This kind of deeper dive is best suited for business owners, top management, HR staff, security officers, and other supervisors who can take their turn at the driver’s seat.

Prof. Ann Roche, NCETA Director, says companies will benefit from a wider and more periodic implementation of the top-down approach. However, it is especially advised for industries with high rates of illicit drug use.

NCETA likewise emphasises the value of AOD training for rank and file. In fact, Prof. Roche recommends using an enhanced method which combines the top-down and bottom-up approaches.

She says that complementing supervisor training with employee drug awareness training will make a company better equipped to tackle drug and alcohol problems head on. And companies would do well to roll out regular training programs to keep everyone well informed and on their toes, she further reiterates.

As the number of drug-using employees in the workforce increase, so will the use of synthetic urine. As drug testing companies create more sophisticated drug testing methods, so will the drug users who try to cheat a drug test.

Does synthetic urine actually work? Can drug users actually evade detection? The answer is yes. The fact is particularly worrying especially for employees in safety-sensitive industries.

Synthetic or fake urine is equivalent to artificial urine and is a substitution method to evade a conclusive positive test result. Its design mimics real human urine and contains the very same components found in real human urine. Creatinine, ammonia, and nitrates are also present in synthetic urine. Even the odor of fake urine is the same as that of real urine. Manufacturers of fake urine make sure that the synthetic urine is undetectable even to drug testing companies and can be purchased for as low as $15.

What’s even more worrying is that synthetic urine can be purchased at truck stops. Clearly, this means a big percentage of illicit drug users are employed to drive vehicles. This endangers not just the drivers themselves but also other people’s lives.

Although it’s not 100 percent successful, synthetic urine will only be more useful to illicit drug users desperate to evade detection. Other less sophisticated options focus on dilution. Drug users have used dog urine, lemonade, and various household products in an attempt to give negative or inconclusive results.

Not all drug testing companies have sophisticated fake urine detection methods that include validity and pH tests. Validity tests are tests that include checking the temperature and creatinine levels of a urine sample. Whereas a pH level test helps determine if the urine sample is a diluted sample.

Contact us today to learn how you can keep your workplace safe from drugs and alcohol.

A report by the National Drug Strategy Household Survey confirms this: a majority of cocaine users are between the ages of 20-39, educated, employed, and living in major cities. In addition, they also belong to the highest socioeconomic status. As Will Tregoning — founder of a non-profit organisation committed to challenging current drug policies — once said: “A lot of wealthy people take drugs.”

Read on to find out the incredible truth about drug abuse in white-collar professions in Australia.

A high stakes job puts the pressure on professionals. Long working hours, an intense social scene, plus a large disposable income create the perfect context for drug abuse.

In 2016, the Daily Telegraph accessed court documents detailing the operations of a drug syndicate in Sydney. Shockingly, a 64-year-old suburban grandmother headed the family-run drug syndicate. They admitted to peddling 30 bags of cocaine a night. Distributing the lot to their high-flying clients in Sydney’s northern and eastern suburbs. Furthermore, Sydney police also note a steady increase in drug-related incidents in Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs around the same time.

The Oceania market for drugs is extremely lucrative according to the 2014 United Nations World Drug Report. In fact, the most powerful drug trafficker in the world, Sinaloa Cartel kingpin “El Chapo” established a cocaine importation business on the eastern part of Australia. In 2015 Police intercepted a shipment by the cartel of 240kg of cocaine, worth about $83 million in Sydney. The monthly consumption of cocaine across the Australian east coast is about 500 kilograms a month.

Dr. Christian Rowan, Addiction Specialist at The Banyans Health and Wellness Residence says cocaine use is popular due to its stimulating effects. On it, the user is wide awake and buzzed on energy. Two major reasons for using it are to stay awake and alert for work and to unwind and relax for socialising.

Cocaine users also prefer the drug because of its very few physical symptoms. With less obvious symptoms, social users can shrug it off as a harmless habit. Being high on cocaine may not as obvious as being high on marijuana, but that’s what makes the drug so insidious. Because the negative effects of cocaine develop gradually and are not immediately noticeable, it is particularly dangerous.

Because of its high cost and the class of people who use it, cocaine has also become a status symbol. There is a sense of glamour to using cocaine and being one with the elite. What’s interesting is how cocaine users do not consider themselves addicts, referring to themselves as “recreational” users.

Another factor that adds to the growing number of cocaine users is the misconception that cocaine is not as dangerous as other drugs. Since early users of cocaine are introduced to it socially, it makes the drug seem harmless. Furthermore, the social context makes them unaware of their developing drug dependency. However, socially driven cocaine use is highly dangerous.

The findings, published in the medical journal PLOS ONE show that cocaine users have increased aortic stiffness, greater left ventricular mass, and higher systolic blood pressure. According to Professor Gemma Figtree of Sydney Medical School, there are acute side effects of cocaine use. Some of which include myocardial infarction or heart attack. Cocaine users often use it in conjunction with alcohol, which is harmful to their health.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Australia. And men who suffer from heart disease are getting younger and younger. Could growing cocaine use in the country have something to do with it?

Functional users of ice use it to be more alert, more confident, increase their energy and stamina. Ice, traditionally used by the blue collar workers are now common in finance, management, and IT. And according to the group, ice addicts are able to hide it from their friends, family, and co-workers.

The largest ever seizure of ice was in eastern Melbourne — police found $900 worth of ice, equivalent to 9 million hits.

In 2015 a business analyst from one of the leading trading companies in Australia detailed his 20-year heroin addiction. At the time of writing, he was expecting a large Christmas bonus. That’s on top of earning $100,000 a year. The man admitted to injecting himself with heroin at least once a day and had been an addict since the age of 19. He was still spending his days analysing numbers and advising senior management on business strategies.

In his own words, he was very lucky to have been able to keep his heroin addiction hidden for so long. “I am just a normal person, who happens to have a massive weakness for heroin,” he added.

The director of psychiatry at Royal Brisbane Hospital was astounded to have met such a high-functioning drug abuser, much less a heroin addict. This is clearly not typical, but it highlights how good drug users are at covering up their addiction.

From 2016 to 2017, there were 5,112 emergency department visits and 9,636 hospital visits due to opioid poisoning alone. According to AIHW spokeswoman, every day there are 150 hospitalisations in Australia due to opioids. Every day in Australia, there are three deaths due to opioid misuse — and the most heavily affected group are Australians that fall between the ages of 35-44. The most common pharmaceutical opioids responsible for deaths were codeine, oxycodone, and morphine.

Monash University student Samantha Lalic analysed the dispensation of opioids under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 2013 to 2017. She found that 1.9 million Australians begin taking prescribed pharmaceutical opioids every year. Out of the 1.9 million new users, about 50,000 of them end up using pharmaceutical opioids in the long-term, beyond what their doctors prescribe.

Doctors are eager to prescribe pharmaceutical painkillers and their powerfully addictive nature makes patients want to continue taking them long after the need for pain killers has passed. AIHW research data in 2016 shows that 11 percent of Australians admitted to using opioids for non-medical purposes.

Between June and August of last year, researchers from the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring program quietly collected wastewater samples from 58 wastewater stations in the country. The results of the latest wastewater testing were published in February of this year. The sixth annual testing exposes not just the drug habits of Australians according to locality, but also how much Australian’s spend on illegal drugs last year– which is a whopping $9.3 billion.

Test results show oxycodone and fentanyl consumption is on a steady rise in the Australian Capital Territory. However, Tasmanians still remain the highest consumer of prescription drugs. Sydney is still cocaine capital with the highest consumption rate of the drug. Ice use in regional Australia grew consistently, with Canberra taking the top spot for residents taking more doses of the drug in a single day. Particularly concerning about this is that ice use is on the rise among young Canberrans.

Furthermore, Victoria takes the place for a state with the highest rates of heroin use, while cannabis use in higher in the regional than metropolitan areas. With MDMA, there is a large variation in the recorded use of the drug. But research shows that it is mostly used for recreational purposes such as in music festivals, where an increase in overdoses cases sparked a national debate. Moreover, alcohol use remains consistent all throughout Australia. It remains one of the most consumed drugs in the country.

The wastewater test results show that there are drug users in every pocket of Australia, both in the regional and metropolitan areas.

To sum it up, drug users in our country are intelligent, articulate, employed and have the drive to succeed. A majority are not even aware that they have an addiction, which makes it difficult to address drug abuse.

With the prevalence of drug abuse among white-collar professionals, are you sure that none of your employees are affected? People who work in high-stakes industries are under immense pressure to perform well. Consequently, they may turn to drugs and alcohol to keep their heads above water.

The only way to help a drug-addicted employee and avoid potential disaster is through a drug and alcohol testing program.

The first step is to introduce an enforceable drug testing policy for your company. You are then able to perform mandatory workplace drug testing and address drug use, hopefully in its early stages.

Safework Health can help you secure and safeguard your company and workforce from drug and alcohol abuse through our comprehensive drug testing services.

If you want to know your options, give us a call today.