Glenn Dobson: Drug Detection Agency CEO voices concern over increase in meth use in the workplace

A workplace drug testing company is sounding the alarm, with meth showing up disproportionately in results nationwide.

New data from the Drug Detection Agency finds meth's turned up in a quarter of all results.

It follows the Drug Trends Survey revealing gangs are behind one-in-three sales of methamphetamine across the country.

CEO Glenn Dobson says meth usage makes it harder for employees to do their work - and creates extra risks in the workplace.

"In general terms - it can affect them for about 48-72 hours. The thing with meth is that the user will go so hard and so long based on their lifestyle to stay up and stay active that they have a massive hangover effect afterwards when they come down."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Myth. Myth in the workplace is skyrocketing. According to new
figures from workplace testing company the Drug Detection Agency. In
January of this year, thirteen percent of workplace meth testing
meth testing returned to positive result thirteen percent. That number
jump to twenty five percent in March of this year. Now,
Glenn Dobson is the CEO of the Drug Detection Agency

(00:21):
and with us now.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, Glenn, hi, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Does it follow that if you expand the testing to everyone,
that twenty five percent figure will hold.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, potentially. I mean, this is a snapshot of society,
and we've seen in the society that the wastewater stats
have doubled recently, and so this is obviously a snapshot
from the workplace. And I'd suspect that if we tested
further in the workplaces we would see a similar sort
of result.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Sheas twenty five percent. So what are we finding residue
from somebody having a party at the weekend or are
we finding that they are wah, you know the eyeballs
are spinning right now at work.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, it's it's all around the risk of impairment, and
what it's doing is whether it we're drug testing through
urine testing or oral fluid or mouth swabs. It's indicating
that the metabola or the drug there is present, which
means that it's potentially impairing their ability to either do
their work, make sound decisions, and create a real risk
in workplace. Which is the scary part.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
For how long does it deter someone's ability to do
their work? You know, like with booze, you booze the
night before. Obviously when you're drunk, you can't do anything.
When you hungover, you're kind of operating at about seventy
five percent. What about with p.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, Look, there's a hole lot of factors that come
into it, as the purity of the drug, it's the
person's metabolism rate, and it's also their lifestyle as well.
But general terms, and this isn't an absolute black and
white the general terms, it can effect them for about
forty eight to seventy two hours. But with the thing
with myth is the user will go so hard and

(01:51):
so long and race to their lifestyle to stay up,
stay active, increasingly moving in someone that they have a
massive hangover effect afterwards when they come down, so that
it's a real risk as well.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Oh so like if you're on the glass pipe for
five days, then you're going to have a come down
for five days or something like that.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, I mean your body just can't to say, and
it's going to crash at some stage. And if you're
in charges and heavy machinery, if you're in charge of
something that safety sensitive, that's a real risk to you
and your work mates.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
So do you think that more companies, given that it
is so and like surprisingly prolific, do you think that
more companies should actually start rolling out in the workplace,
even if it's not the kind of place that you
normally think should test.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah. I mean the traditional workplace drug testing environment is
for what we call safety sense of workplaces. You know,
your heavy machinery, your equipment that you're using that if
you make a mistake, you could hurt yourself or others.
But what we are seeing is we are seeing a
lot more white collar industries starting to drug test. And
that's more around on your health and safety, but reputational

(02:51):
risk as well. You know, legal fraternity, financial fraternity. They
don't want their brand tarnish because an employee or a
high paid executive makes a bad decision based on taking drugs.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Rocle have the I guys started drug testing just.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Asking for certainly, healthcare is one industry that does do
an amount of drug deestine. I'll leave it at that.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Hey, listen, why is there a problem in Central North
Like I mean, if the average is twenty five percent,
these guys are heading thirty percent? What's up?

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, that's a really good question, and I couldn't say
exactly what that is. It could be that there's a
really strong distribution network there at the moment. You know,
drugs get moved around the country quite a bit, and
it could be that there's a strong distribution network there
with good, strong local connections. And it could be that
they're experiencing tough times of the economy at the moment,

(03:49):
and during tough times, people make some unusual or what
you might say, bad decisions.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Glenn, it's good to talk to you. I really appreciate it.
Glen Dobson, the Drug Detection Agency CEO. More from Hither
Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
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