July 30, 2007 | Posted By Diane Pfadenhauer | print this article

Jobs With the Highest Percentage of Drug Use

With some recent talk of claims that many employees use drugs, I recently stumbled upon a list of the occupations with the highest rate of drug use.  A study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), which looked at current drug use among 21 major occupational groups from 2002 through 2004, found that an annual average of approximately 9.4 million current illicit drug users and 10.1 million heavy alcohol users were employed full-time during that period. 

The groups with the highest percentage of drug use among full time workers:

  • Food preparation and serving (17.4 percent)
  • Construction (15.1 percent)
  • Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (12.4 percent)
  • Sales (9.6 percent)
  • Installation, maintenance, and repair (9.5 percent)

The groups with the lowest prevalence of current drug use among full-time workers were:

  • Protective service (3.4 percent)
  • Community and social services (4.0 percent)
  • Education, training, and library (4.1 percent)
  • Legal (4.8 percent)
  • Financial (4.9 percent)
So if you're not doing drug testing now, it might be something to think about.