NEW COUNTY DRUG PROGRAM'S GOAL IS TO KEEP WORKERS CLEAN

Fifteen applicants at Cardinal Employment Services in Roseburg were
drug tested prior to being placed at a production job last week.

Three of them tested positive for methamphetamine.

It's a problem many local employers are facing on a daily basis --
finding employees who can pass a drug test, and also remain sober
while they're on the clock. Finding both is the goal of a proposed
new program that was discussed at Monday's Roseburg Area Chamber of
Commerce Noon Forum.

"They're showing up under the influence more and more often," said
Dan Strasser, program director for ADAPT in Roseburg, about employees today.

ADAPT, Cardinal Employment Services and the chamber are working on a
program that would certify potential employees as drug and alcohol
free. The goal is make them clean and able to enter the work force,
then place them in a job.

Strasser said the program will give confidence to employers doing the hiring.

The plan is for participants to stay off drugs and alcohol for 30
days. Those people will be in support groups and go through education
about abuse.

They would then earn a certificate stating their accomplishment.

After they are certified, ADAPT could continue working with them for
three months to a year or "until they've completely gotten onto that
road to recovery where they're not using anymore," Strasser said.

Employers could hire those who are certified through an employment
agency on a temporary basis.

Though Cardinal Employment Services is involved with launching the
program, Colleen Puryear, Cardinal branch manager in Roseburg, said
it will benefit all agencies.

Puryear said the problem of hiring drug-free applicants isn't new,
it's just magnified because there are a lot of jobs currently
available that can't be filled.

Some companies aren't requiring any kind of testing, Puryear said.

"They are so desperate, they are hiring just anybody," she said.

The problem, then, she said, is that employee might not last a week.

"It's getting uncontrollable," Puryear said.

The idea for the new program came from the chamber's Workforce
Collaborative, a group of representatives from area businesses and
organizations that came together to discuss improving work force conditions.

The new program is still in a research stage.

Strasser said a survey has been sent to chamber members, asking them
questions about the proposed program. Organizers want to know if
employers would support it by hiring a certified worker, even if that
person had previously failed a drug test with the business.

Often service agencies wait for a disaster, Strasser said, and then
work to meet the needs afterward. When dealing with businesses and
drugs, a new approach is needed.

"It's not really productive, the way business works" dealing with the
problem, he said.