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So thats whats up with half the people I see at Walmart and local fast food joints 
Meth abuse at work continues to grow
By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
2 hours, 33 minutes ago
A couple of hours before going to work, Scott Chubb would open a small bag and inhale a white, odorless, crystalline powder. The methamphetamine gave him a quick high. At work as a waiter at Bennigan's Grill & Tavern, dashing between his five tables, he felt jittery and frenetic.
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For seven years, he used the drug, sleeping only a few hours before his shifts, and sometimes not at all. He lost weight and looked gaunt. Dark circles appeared like bruises under his eyes. A $60 bag of meth had once lasted him all weekend; now it was gone in hours.
Then, in January 2004, he abruptly asked a co-worker to take over his shift.
"I needed to leave," says Chubb, 31, a model, aspiring actor and waiter in Chicago who is in several recovery programs at once. "I needed to find help. I was living a double life. I quit cold turkey that day. I stopped using drugs, but it wasn't easy."
Methamphetamine, also known as speed, meth and chalk, is a fast-growing illegal stimulant that has been tried by more than 12 million Americans, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Its presence in the workplace has also soared.
The number of positive drug tests for amphetamines grew by 6% last year, on the heels of a jump of more than 44% in 2003, according to a report by Quest Diagnostics, a provider of employer drug-testing services. Officials at Quest say drug testing may be deterring drug users, which could be one reason for the slower rate of growth. The findings are based on more than 6 million workplace drug tests in 2004. Meth is the most common type of amphetamine abused.
About 1.3 million people reported using meth in the previous year, and 607,000 said they had used it in the previous month, according to a 2003 report from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"(Methamphetamine) is a big issue and an area of concern from employers," says Barry Sample, at Quest in Lyndhurst, N.J. "You can't necessarily tell (whether an employee is addicted). They need to feed this habit. They're going to have ill health effects. They're going to modify behavior to obtain the drugs by any means."
Meth addiction costs employers
A recent study at the University of Arkansas found that businesses in Benton County (population of about 170,000) were losing an estimated $21 million annually because of meth -- costs largely due to absenteeism and lost productivity.
Meth dealing and meth-related sales can also seep into the workplace. In June, more than 200 law enforcement agents arrested 49 people at 16 companies associated with convenience stores. They were indicted on charges of knowingly selling products used to make meth. Those involved included employees and owners of convenience stores, a tobacco store, a grocery and others, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Georgia. Meth can be manufactured from common over-the-counter products.
"Drug abuse in the workplace is decreasing, but ironically, methamphetamine-positive (drug tests) are increasing," says Mark de Bernardo, executive director of the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace in Washington. "Methamphetamine can create a more violent behavior ... with anxiety and paranoia, and workplace violence is a major concern for employers."
David Parnell, 38, says he was teetering on the edge of violence when he used meth on the job.
He worked for several years at a tire factory in Mayfield, Ky., and used meth regularly. Whenever the drug left him too burned-out to function, he says, he would tell a doctor he felt depressed and get medical leave.
"They knew I was on something, but they couldn't catch me," Parnell says. "The more money I made, the more I used. People can hide this in the beginning, in the early stages."
Parnell, who had six kids with wife Amy then, was going downhill fast. He would scoop piles of meth onto toilet paper and swallow the concoction. His $35,000-a-year job and dealing marijuana and meth paid for the addiction.
Meth floods a users' brain with dopamine, which provides a pleasurable sensation that left Parnell brimming with energy at work. But over time, it takes a toll -- triggering anxiety, breeding paranoia and causing weight loss, tooth grinding and tooth decay.
At work, Parnell became explosive, confrontational and exhausted. His talk turned rapid, and his weight dropped from 200 to 160 pounds. Co-workers stayed away.
"I was so strung out, there was a hard look in my eye," he says. He began to grow paranoid, hearing voices and started carrying an assault rifle.
When his wife, Amy, told him she was going to leave, he asked her to lie down beside him. He grabbed the rifle and shot himself below the chin, blowing his nose off, ravaging his teeth and lips, and shattering bones in his face. Three days later, he woke up in the hospital. Amy told him she was pregnant with their seventh child. "I knew that baby would have a better start," he says.
It was the last time Parnell used meth. After more than a year spent recovering, he says, he was fired from his job, but today, he earns a living by telling his story in high schools, churches, drug courts and jails.
For many users, the drug acts first to improve job performance.
"Initially, it does increase performance and concentration, all the things you want in an employee," says Carol Falkowski, director of research communications at Hazelden, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Center City, Minn. "(Users) take it to function. It has broad appeal to people who have too much to do and are too stressed. That's all of us."
While the typical meth user in the past was a white, blue-collar man, the drug is now being used by more diverse groups across the USA, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Meth is popular among long-haul truck drivers and other employees who must be mentally alert while working long hours.
Some employers will fire employees who test positive or are found using meth, but others provide treatment to workers who come forward and seek help with an addiction. Meth addiction is often treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy, and treatment can last three months to a year.
But many insurers put limits on the length of time employees can be in treatment or obtain counseling. Employers generally combat meth use by wrapping it into broader drug-abuse prevention efforts and policies. Those include employee education, lectures, videotapes and manager and supervisor training.
Majority of employers test
To try to curb abuse, more than 60% of employers test current employees or new hires for illegal drugs, according to the American Management Association.
In Honolulu, an industry coalition of maritime companies and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 helped pay for a video on meth use and its impact. The video will be shown to longshoremen, mechanics, supervisors and other employees.
"Hopefully, we'll encourage people to avoid the drug and, if they have a problem, to facilitate help," says Gary North, a vice president at Matson Navigation, one of the shipping companies.
"This is the companies and union working together," North says.
Typically, over time, meth addicts will burn out at work -- losing employment or moving from job to job to continue getting paid. They may have trouble securing employment because of felony drug arrests. Those who are in recovery may also find it hard to get work because employers fear they will be vulnerable to relapse.
Clancy Miller, 61, used meth for more than 20 years while working in construction and steel foundries and while in the National Guard. He finally deteriorated, becoming physically ill, and in 1988 checked himself into a Veterans Administration hospital for treatment. Meth had caused him to grind his teeth to such an extent that he scarcely had any jawbone left. Doctors removed part of his hip bone and used it to rebuild his jaw.
Today, the married father of two grown children is the co-founder of Dual Diagnosis Anonymous, which provides support and meetings for drug addicts with mental illness and counsels recovering meth addicts. He tells them not to tell potential employers they're in recovery, he says, for fear they'll never find a job.
"Otherwise, most end up working at Burger King, even if they have an education," says Miller, of Yucaipa, Calif. "We have a psychologist with a Ph.D. in recovery, and he finds it hard to get a job. It can be hard to get an employer's trust."
