Snapshot of Employee Drug Use

With the recent confirmation of Sarah Bailey as the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the National Safety Council took the opportunity to remind safety professionals that in the workplace, overdoses account for 10% of all deaths on the job.

NSC reported that emergency medical services were activated over 12,600 times to respond to potential opioid overdoses occurring in workplace settings in 2024. 

Also, last year, in July, a study from The Ohio State University found that 9% of young US employees use alcohol and drugs at work. 

Among respondents, 8.9% of workers reported any substance use in the workplace, including 5.6% drinking alcohol, 3.1% using marijuana and 0.8% taking cocaine or other hard drugs, a category that also included opioids. 

The industries that saw the highest use were in food preparation and construction. 

I would note that the data in this study is older since it's hard to come by this data. Efforts to secure better data were taken in 2025 by the Department of Transportation to add a rule that would require fentanyl and norfentanyl mandatory drug testing panels for transportation workers under federal jurisdiction, as reported by EHS contributor David Sparkman 

And in 2025, fentanyl positivity tested on a random basis was found to be more than seven times higher in pre-employment testing.  

Fentanyl wasn't the only drug found in testing. About 22% of fentanyl-positive workforce drug tests were also positive for marijuana, a rate that has doubled since 2020, when only 10% of fentanyl positives were also positive for marijuana. A large percentage of fentanyl positives were also found to be positive for amphetamines – 16% in 2024 compared to 11% in 2020.

"It is disturbing to see increased use of fentanyl on the job and in combination with other drugs, given fentanyl's extreme potency, which can increase risk of impairment, accidents, and potential overdose," said Suhash Harwani, senior director of science for Workforce Health Solutions at Quest Diagnostics, in a statement. "It also raises concern that employees are turning to a dangerous drug like fentanyl after they've passed a pre-employment drug screen, putting the overall wellness of the workforce at risk."

Currently, the DOL does offer some assistance to help employers with this issue, via a Recovery-Ready Workplace.

So, what will 2026 look like in terms of drug use in the workplace? Of course, the hope is that use will decline and together, employees and employers will devise solutions to create a healthier workplace.