As an employer, you are very familiar with the Oraline Saliva test or the Lion Alcoblow, but would you recognise drug paraphernalia if you came across it? If you are a child of the 60s and 70s then you might be able to recognise bongs, roach clips and the small pipes used to smoke cannabis, but would you recognise items used to freebase cocaine?
Learning to recognise supplies and equipment may not seem like something an employer would be interested in mastering, but finding drug paraphernalia indicates possible drug use is taking place on the workplace premises. Drug paraphernalia refers to any equipment that is used to make, hide or consume drugs. That covers a lot of equipment because it can be any item that is used in the manufacturing, processing, preparing injecting, inhaling or ingesting of illicit drugs.
Knowing how to identify signs of workplace drug use is important because the presence of drug paraphernalia is a clue that employees are using illicit drugs. Maintaining a safe workplace in the exercise of duty of care requires more than just holding classes and doing blanket and random drug testing. Being proactive in the process of drug detection requires being educated in the methods drug users employ and monitoring employee behaviours and the condition of the workplace.
There are some easily identifiable items that are clearly drug paraphernalia. For example, the marijuana pipe is obvious drug equipment. On the other hand, the marijuana pipe hidden inside what looks like a highlighter marker is not obvious. Other types of paraphernalia include glass and metal pipes used to smoke crack cocaine and methamphetamine, spoons with cocaine residue, nitrous oxide whippets with balloons, hypodermic syringes and needles for injecting, rolling papers for marijuana and eye droppers for drug delivery.
You would think that drug paraphernalia would be easy to identify, but that is not always the case. Drug users have devised a number of deceptive ways to hide drugs and to hide the items needed to process or take the drugs. Here are just a few examples:
- Hollow cell phone for concealing drugs
- Storage tin (called a stash can) with a secret compartment
- Soda can with false bottom
- Lipstick dispenser (empty)
Drug paraphernalia can be very common items too. Razor blades, mirrors and small glass vials are ordinary items used for the drug taking. If you notice a soda can dented on one side with small holes poked through then you probably found a homemade soda can pipe for smoking drugs.
It is important for the employer to include the subject of drug paraphernalia in the drug and alcohol policies and procedures. Victoria University offers a good example of how to accomplish this. The university has a section titled “Dealing with drug related incident”. This section states, “Employees may observe or be confronted by incidents involving drugs. These include the following…v) drug related paraphernalia (syringes etc) having been discarded.”1 The policy goes on to say that the employees should then take appropriate action to protect their own safety and the safety of others.
Recognising drug paraphernalia is important for another reason too. Addiction is rooted in the brain and paraphernalia is a trigger. As Dr. Van Damme Ivan explained at a Drug Free Australia Conference, “ To a drug addict, the sight of drug paraphernalia ( syringes, smoking devices ) or exposure to environments in which drugs have previously been used can induce craving for drugs and relapse through conditioning . Stimuli (such as environmental contexts associated with drug use or drug paraphernalia) are known as secondary reinforcers because they derive their ability to influence behaviour by association.”2
In other words, the drug addict is conditioned to respond to the sight of paraphernalia which is yet another reason to remove it from the workplace. Ignoring signs of drug paraphernalia can contribute to a culture of tolerance.
The employer’s duty of care in Australia only extends to keeping the workplace safe. The goal is not to tell someone to stop using drugs or to control off-premises actions. It is only to promote a drug free workplace, and that requires understanding the behaviour of drug addicts and paying close attention to the items present on the premises.
Mediscreen (http://mediscreen.net.au/) works closely with employers interested in developing policies and procedures covering all aspects of drug and alcohol use in the workplace. The professionals at Mediscreen can also review existing policies and procedures for thoroughness.
References
1Victoria University. (2006, August 29). Policies and Associated Procedures – OHS Drugs and Alcohol. Australia. Retrieved from http://wcf.vu.edu.au/GovernancePolicy/PDF/POH060822000.PDF
2Ivan, Van Damme. (2007). Drug Free Australia Conference “Exposing the Reality”. Elements of patho-physiology of drug addiction and related consequences. Adelaide: Presentation by Dr. Van Damme Ivan.
