As the children of Brian and Courtney Halye prepared for school one morning in March, they began to worry because their parents had not made it out of their bedroom.
It was custom for Brian and Courtney to wake the children, ages 9, 10, 11 and 13. As they peered into their parents’ room, they saw the lifeless bodies of Brian and Courtney surrounded by narcotics paraphernalia — dead of an apparent overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic form of morphine more potent than heroin.
The face of addiction has changed. This was a normal, middle-class couple with good jobs, living in the suburbs of a Midwestern town — probably the last place you would look for a couple of drug addicts.
A survey conducted in March by the National Safety Council revealed that 70 percent of businesses said narcotic painkillers had affected their business. The NSC recommends incorporating the following steps to monitor the use of opioids in the workplace:
• Clear policy: A company’s legal department should put in place a policy similar to restrictions on the use of alcohol or illegal drugs.
• Employee education: Keeping in mind that the employee-patient relationship is confidential, employees should still be educated about the dangers of opioids in the workplace. The education process should include the dangers of operating heavy equipment while on medication, the risks of driving on pain pills, safe storage and the fact that they should not share their medication.
• Supervisor training: Management should be current on the workplace’s prescription drug policy and educated on how to identify possible employee abuse. Managers need to understand that a person with a disability is protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act and not infringe upon his or her rights.
• An employee assistance program: Helping an employee who has a problem with opioid abuse is 25-200 percent more cost effective than replacing that person. Not only does a company suffer the loss of knowledge and production from an employee it terminates, but it also leaves someone in a dangerous position to himself or society.
• Drug testing: Research has shown that drug testing in the workplace brings down the number of accidents. Employers and those who are conducting the drug screens need to be aware that recently, with easy access to synthetic urine online, those who are abusing drugs have found ways to skirt the system. Only 14 states ban the sale and purchase of synthetic urine.
Dr. Matt McCarty is a physician specializing in chronic pain management.