>>> Part 15 of 15...
o-harold!cydr
From: cydr@pro-harold.cts.com (Cyd Ropp)
Subject: article reprint
Organization: The Harold Network -- An Alliance For Creative Communication
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 23:02:13 GMT
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The following appeared in the May 6, 1991 edition of the Saint Paul Pioneer
Press by columnist David Morris.  I often quote from it -- you may find the
info quotable, too.  Keep in mind the article is three years old.
...  The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that the giant utility,
Utah Power and Light, "spent $215 per emplyee per year less on the drug
abusers in health insurance benefits than on the control group."  Employees
who tested positive for drugs at Georgia Power Co. had a higher promotion
rate than the company average.  Workers testing positive only for marijuana
exhibited absenteeism some 30 percent lower than average.
Scientific American, after exhaustive research, found that the studies
usually cited to prove the dangers of drug use in the workplace were either
shoddy or misinterpreted.  Astonishingly, the magazine could identify only
one study on workplace drug use that has passed through the standard peer
review process.
That one, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, studied
180 hospital employees, 22 of whom had tested positive after being hired. 
It found "no difference between drug-positive and drug-negative employees"
with respect to supervisor evaluations or performance.  Except for one
intriguing item:  Eleven of the negatives had been fired during their first
year on the job, but none of the positives.
More recently the American Psychologist, a peer-reviewed scientific
journal, reported on a 15-year study of San Francisco-area children by
researchers Jonathan Shedler and Jack Block of the University of Calif.
Berkeley.
Their report reveals that adolescents who occasionally use drugs are
healthier than both drug abusers and drug abstainers.  Moreover, those who
abused drugs as teen-agers have distinct behavioral problems that were
identifiable years before their drug use began.  Drug use is a symptom, not
a cause.  Says Shedler, "The most effective drug prevention programs might
not deal with drugs at all."
....  Finally, Florida State University conducted a study for the Florida
Legislature of 45,996 people arrested for drug possession in 1987. 
Eighty-eight percent had never been arrested for property crimes like
burglary.  Says Professor David Rasmussen, "This study suggests we are
incarcerating people for the use of drugs when they do not commit other
crimes..."
There's more, but that's all the studies cited.  The above may be of use to
those refusing drug testing at work.  The Florida study also seems apropos
to cite against DEA Director Constantine defamatory/inflammatory remarks.
_____________________________________
 Cyd Ropp
 cydr@pro-harold.cts.com
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