Suspended drug users turn lives around

Methamphetamine use among Whakatane and Bay of Plenty workers is on the rise and higher than the national average.

But drug testing in workplaces is having a positive effect on some workers, with a Kawerau forestry business saying some employees had turned their lives around and become drug-free after giving a positive test for cannabis and being suspended from work.

Statistics released by the New Zealand Drug Detection Agency show the number of workers who tested positive for cocaine and cannabis had dropped, but those who tested positive for methamphetamine had increased.

New Zealand Drug Detection Agency Bay of Plenty general manager Leigh Sefton said the results could mean those who were previously using cannabis had switched to methamphetamine.

Nationally, the agency conducted 29,315 on-site drug tests in 2010 and 52,124 in 2011.

There were 4458 drug tests conducted in the Bay of Plenty last year, up from 1711 in 2010.

"More and more companies ... see the benefits of drug testing not only their staff but their potential employees," Mr Sefton said.

National statistics show that of the drugs for which workers tested positive, cannabis was the most detected drug, making up 68.5 per cent of positive tests, down from 70.3 per cent in 2010.

Figures from 2010 to 2011 are similar for both years for opiates, which include codeine (15.9 per cent in 2011, down from 16.2 per cent in 2010) and benzodiazepine (1.2 per cent of tests in 2011, down from 2 per cent in 2010).

Cocaine was not detected at all in 2011, down from 0.2 per cent in 2010.

Methamphetamine was the only drug which had increased. In 2011, 14.4 per cent of positive tests were for methamphetamine, up from 11.3 per cent in 2010.

Figures from the Bay of Plenty show 67 per cent of positive tests were for cannabis, which was below the national average and 10 per cent of positive tests were for codeine, also below the national average.

Twenty-one per cent of positive tests in the Bay of Plenty were for methamphetamine, higher than the national average of 14 per cent and 2 per cent of positive tests were for benzodiazepine, also higher than the national average.

Industries regularly drug testing employees in the Bay of Plenty include forestry, construction, transport and horticulture, but Mr Sefton said office workers and hospitality staff were also tested.

He was not surprised at the increase of positive tests for methamphetamine.

"It was expected - there seems to have been an increase in popularity in it over recent years," he said.

"I was surprised to see cannabis and cocaine use has decreased."

Mr Sefton said cannabis was still the most widely used substance but the decrease in positive tests for cannabis and cocaine could just mean those who had used these drugs were now using methamphetamine.

Kawerau's Kajavala Forestry yard manager Ricky Pratt said his company carried out random drug tests every three months. The majority of positive test results returned were for cannabis.

"The people in the drug testing van come up to us around every three months. A random list of seven of our employees is printed out and they get drug and alcohol tested. The ones who get tested are not usually showing Class A drugs, usually just cannabis," he said.

Mr Pratt said company policy was to suspend any worker who showed a positive drug or alcohol test, during which time they would receive counselling.

"Our policy is if they test positive, we find out how much was in their system and suspend them straight away. We supply them with counselling and get them off drugs because some of these people have been using drugs their whole lives. Drugs have been out there for a long time, it's in ours and their best interest to get them off."

He said some of the people who had tested positive in the past had come through counselling and were now drug free.

"We have tested people who have been on drugs their whole lives and through counselling have turned their lives around and are now drug free. That's the positive side of testing."