When an employer is confronted with the reality that one of their employees is a drug addict and must enter a drug rehab program, there are several views they may take on that scenario and they cover a wide scale of opinions.
At one extreme will be employers who say the employee is a criminal, that drug addicts have no place in their business, and that anyone who chooses to take drugs is to be fired. At the other end of the scale are employers completely sympathetic to their employee’s predicament, who may have experience of a loved one recovering from drug addiction and who even offer to finance their employee’s recovery.
As you read both of those viewpoints, which do you lean towards? The answer is crucially important if you are an employer and speaks to whether you believe drug addiction is a choice, a crime, and punishment is the answer, or that drug addiction is a medical condition that needs treatment.
Ultimately, how you run your business and your terms and conditions relating to drug addiction within your workforce is a matter for you. However, we ask you to pause for a second and understand one thing. It has been proven by countless medical studies of those addicted to drugs that their drug addiction is a disease rather than a lifestyle choice.