DRUG, ALCOHOL POLICY ANGERS SOME AT USM

Several faculty and staff are upset with a revised University of
Southern Mississippi substance abuse policy that prohibits employees
from reporting to work or remaining on the job with any detectable
level of alcohol or illegal drugs in their systems.

"The standards it sets are outrageous," said Frank Glamser, president
of the Southern Miss chapter of the American Association of University
Professors. "Does it mean if you have a beer with your Mexican lunch,
you're in trouble? If you have a cognac-laced cherry, are you in
trouble? If you have a few beers at night and come in early, are you
in trouble?"

USM officials approved the policy Nov. 3 and began distributing it by
mail this week. Employees are required to sign forms that they have
read and understand the policy.

Risk management director Jack Hanbury wrote the document to bring the
university into compliance with the federal Drug Free Workplace Act.

"There wasn't any particular incident that led to this," Hanbury said.
"If you look at the studies, you will find the major reasons for the
increase in workplace injuries is the consumption of alcohol or drugs.
That presents a danger not only to the employee but to
co-workers."

The university could lose millions of dollars in federal funding if
its policy doesn't comply with the Drug Free Workplace Act, university
spokeswoman Lisa Mader said.

"The most important thing besides being in compliance is the
university has a vital interest in maintaining a safe, healthy work
environment for the employee," she said. "Being under the influence of
drugs and alcohol certainly presents a risk."

Mader would not discuss hypothetical situations such as the beer with
lunch mentioned by Glamser.

"I would suggest that they don't drink a beer during lunch," Hanbury
said.

Any employee who is tested and found to have a detectable amount of an
illegal drugs or alcohol in his or her body is subject to discipline,
up to and including discharge, the policy states.

"I honestly think that if I go home and have a drink or imbibe illegal
substances and come in the next day and my performance is not
affected, it's not the university's business," said Stephen Judd, an
associate theater and dance professor.

Testing would be required when there is reasonable suspicion that the
policy has been violated or following a work-related accident.

"I think the concept of detectable level is excellent when you're
talking about impairment," said Amy Adelman, a licensed professional
counselor and director of Wesley Medical Center's Employee Assistance
Program. "Even when you're withdrawing from a substance, it affects
your mind and mood."

A beer metabolizes in about an hour, she said.

"Marijuana can be detected up to 30 days after use," said Bettie Ross,
director of DREAM. "The half life of marijuana is a week. A week after
you've used, half of the active ingredient is still in your body."

The policy gives the university the right to periodically test of
employees in law enforcement, public health or safety, those with
national security clearances or who have access to sensitive
information and those who use vehicles or heavy equipment or whose
work presents a safety hazard.

"This seems to be all-inclusive," said political science professor Joe
Parker. "If you have consumed an alcoholic beverage over the weekend,
it's mentioned it would still be in your system by Monday. We'll all
have to get our last drink on Saturday so we can tinkle it out before
Monday."

The policy also prohibits the possession on university premises of
contraband - illegal drugs, illicit drugs, alcoholic beverages, drug
paraphernalia, lethal weapons, firearms, incendiaries devices, stolen
property and pornographic materials.

"The thing about pornography, who knows where that came from or where
it's going," Judd said.

Some of the reference materials used by the theater department in its
recent production of Cabaret might have been considered pornographic,
Judd said.

"I find this to be a potentially repressive policy," he said. "It
requires us to potentially censor our work and our personal lives."

At Mississippi State University, the substance abuse policy applies to
employees who report to work under the influence.

"They just don't just assume everybody's a crook," Glamser said. "The
tone is totally different and has very little about alcohol. A policy
like that is a fine policy. No one would have a problem with that."

The USM policy will be submitted to the national American Association
of University Professors office for evaluation, he said.

[sidebar]

NEW POLICY

A new policy at USM states: "All employees should be on notice that, if
they choose to use illegal drugs or engage in the habitual use of alcohol
(even during non-work hours), they are likely to report to work with
detectable levels of those substances in their bodies and will be in
violation of the university's drug and alcohol abuse policy."