LOREN URGES MANDATORY DRUG ABUSE PROGRAMS IN WORKPLACES

Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda urged Congress yesterday to pass a
measure that would require all business establishments, including those
with less than 10 employes, to adopt and enforce mandatory drug abuse
prevention policies and programs in their workplaces.

Legarda said that while the New Dangerous Drugs Law or Republic Act 9166,
which requires business establishments to draw up and implement drug
prevention measures, it has to be revised since it excluded workplaces with
less than 10 laborers from mandatory compliance.

As a result, the implementing rules and regulations of the new law merely
"recommends" the execution of anti-substance abuse programs in firms with
less workers.

Legarda said that around 90 percent of the 820,000 workplaces registered
with the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) were recently found to
be actually employing less than 10 workers.

"Thus, the law has effectively excluded some 738 establishments from the
mandatory enforcement of anti-drug abuse programs. This is lamentable
because these firms involve a labor force of around 3.7 million, assuming
they employ an average of five workers," she said.

She said: "We must strengthen drug prevention measures in the workplace in
view of the increasing number of laborers getting hooked in illicit and
habit-forming substances," the senator added.

Citing a Dangerous Drug Board report, Legarda noted that workers comprised
almost 33 percent of the 6,000 users admitted to drug treatment and
rehabilitation centers last year.

"Extensive and sustained avoidance programs in the workplace will go a long
way in curbing the demand side of the drug problem," Legarda stressed.