Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Glen Dobson: Drug Detection Agency CEO on an uptick of opioid use in the workplace

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Glen Dobson: Drug Detection Agency CEO on an uptick of opioid use in the workplace · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Drug Detection Agency has just to release the latest
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: workplace drug detection data and it's taken a different trend
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: in the last quarter. Cannabis use is down four point
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: seven percent and phetamines are up and opioids are on
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the rise. Opioid use up twelve percent. So Drug Detection
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  Speaker 1: Agency CEO Glenn Dobson is with me now, hullo, Glenn,
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  Speaker 1: want Andrew, So our opioid use it's up. Is this
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  Speaker 1: because we're sicker or are we more addicted?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Good question, and look at these stats probably don't
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  Speaker 2: tell us exactly the reason why it That's why we
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  Speaker 2: track it quarterly, seeing it's concerned. One of the big
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: questions that we've got and we'll continue to trackers. Are
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  Speaker 2: we starting to follow the US and global trends? Hearing
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  Speaker 2: Zealand in ration to the big increase in the problems
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  Speaker 2: that synthetic opioids can cause, both in the community and
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  Speaker 2: from our perspective in work based safety.
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  Speaker 1: Because of course, as prescription medications have the opioids in it,
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  Speaker 1: so can you correlate the use of prescriptions and the
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  Speaker 1: actual use of opioids in the waste water and figure
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: out if there's an excess which proves the addiction.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, you certainly can, and obviously the health side
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  Speaker 2: of New Zealands can comment on prescription usage and so forth.
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  Speaker 2: You know, University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health
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  Speaker 2: Sciences only a couple of years ago released to papers
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  Speaker 2: they were concerned about the potential over prescription of tremadol,
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  Speaker 2: which is obviously a synthetic OPUWOD as well, so that
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  Speaker 2: there's ways to track that. But there's also a huge
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  Speaker 2: issue globally around the illicit use of opioids as well.
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  Speaker 2: From the criminal gangs perspective, they're cheap to make, they're
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  Speaker 2: easy to make in the labs, and because they're very powerful,
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  Speaker 2: you don't need as much and so they're easy to
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  Speaker 2: move around globally.
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  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, with other drugs, we're not smoking as much weed.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if there's a positive cannabis uses down,
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  Speaker 2: that's really good from a safety perspective. Cannabis will is
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  Speaker 2: always one of our higher drugs. And the other concern
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  Speaker 2: I guess is that methanephenamine is up as well. And
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  Speaker 2: obviously we know how the base about drugs.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's up to twenty four point four percent. That's
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  Speaker 1: up from eighteen point eight percent in the previous quarter
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  Speaker 1: or the quarter in twenty twenty three. So we're not
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  Speaker 1: winning that battle, aren't we.
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  Speaker 2: No, Look, we're not. You know, I know you mentioned
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  Speaker 2: before the wastewater stance. We know that that we've seen
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  Speaker 2: a real increase in wastewater stance as well. Now from
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  Speaker 2: our statistics, we know they're looking at a slightly different
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  Speaker 2: population base. We're looking at workplaces as opposed to the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: entire population from a wastework perspective. From our issue, it's
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  Speaker 2: all around safety, and it's a real concern.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Well, looking at the workplace, what sort of industries are
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  Speaker 1: you testing the most and who's using the most drugs?
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  Speaker 2: But it's right across the board. Predominantly workplace drug testing
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  Speaker 2: is traditionally than what you consider blue collar workplaces, but
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: now it's right across the boards. Obviously, safety is the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: main reason around drug testing and the workplace, but also
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  Speaker 2: a lot of companies are doing it from a reputational
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  Speaker 2: risk perspective, making sure they've got no issues within the
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: workplace that will affect their reputation. You know, we've seen
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: recently over the years issues around drugs in our cool
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  Speaker 2: and workplaces and white color industries like the legal fraternity,
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  Speaker 2: and from the issues that they cause.
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  Speaker 1: And when you show employers this sort of data, what
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  Speaker 1: do they say.
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  Speaker 2: Well, first and foremost, it's really interesting. It's good to
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  Speaker 2: be aware of what trends we're seeing at see if
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  Speaker 2: it increases. They are very keen to understand what it
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  Speaker 2: may mean for them in the workplace and also to
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  Speaker 2: hold really good, strong conversations with their employees. It's around
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  Speaker 2: create a culture of openness, the culture of understanding what
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  Speaker 2: the issues are and discussing them openly so that everyone's
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  Speaker 2: aware and ultimately irregue's own safe to their families.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, Absolutely, the drugs don't work,
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  Speaker 1: and they really don't work at work. Glenn Dobson, you're
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  Speaker 1: doing great work and I thank you for your time today.
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  Speaker 1: Glenn is the CEO of the Drug Detection Agency.
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  Speaker 2: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: to News Talks it Be from five am weekdays, or
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.