Employer Awareness: Microdosing at Work?

Rob Chestnut, former general counsel and Justice Department prosecutor, recently wrote a piece for Bloomberg Law, pointing out the dangers of microdosing at work -- particularly with the rise of a microdosing psychedelic culture in a number of corporate spheres. Microdosing, particularly of psychedelics (like psilocybin), is when a person consumes very low doses of a drug in an attempt to experience some of the wanted effects of that substance and to avoid getting "high.

With so many companies relaxing attitudes toward drug policies, especially around drugs like marijuana, there is plenty of concern around workplace drug use. What counts as "impaired" if you feel as if the substances are improving your performance?

Regardless of personal feelings, drug use in the workplace -- whether that workplace is an office, at home, or representing a company in the greater public -- is problematic. Those who misuse drugs are 10 times more likely to miss work, and 4 times more likely to cause a work-related accident.

Business leaders need to reexamine their policies and, maybe more significantly, their attitudes toward drug use in their speech and actions. There is no place for impairment -- from a legal or illicit substance -- at work. The safest workplace is a drug-free workplace.

Resources:

Carlton Hall Consulting, LLC. (n.d.). Substance use prevention in the workplace and its role in the community. https://www.dfaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Substance-Use-Prevention-in-the-Workplace-and-Its-Role-in-the-Community.pdf

Chesnut, Rob. “With More Microdosing at Work, It’s Time to Amend Usage Policies.” Bloomberg Law, 10 July 2023, https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/with-more-microdosing-at-work-its-time-to-amend-usage-policies