Raymond Duncan
A SCOTTISH chief constable claimed yesterday that around 50% of skilled and 85% of unskilled workers are failing in-house drug screening by Scots companies, many of them nationals and multinationals.
His remarks caused controversy, with a strong attack from the unions.
Fife's Chief Constable John Hamilton, who declined to name any of the employers but said he was aware of some in his area, voiced alarm at the ''hit rate'' of current and potential staff falling foul of the testing.
Failures, says the force, involve the discovery of illegal substances across the drugs spectrum, including heroin and cocaine. Most cases, it claims, involve those who see cannabis and ecstasy as recreational drugs.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress accused Mr Hamilton of ''scaremongering'' and giving out ''dubious statistics''.
Mr Ian Millar, STUC Education Officer with a health and safety remit, said he was ''doing an Oliver''. He was referring to controversial former Grampian Chief Constable Ian Oliver, who two years ago told businesses that if they did nothing to implement workplace drug policies, they would be criminally irresponsible. Dr Oliver was the first police chief in the UK to introduce random drug tests for his officers.
The STUC official said he did not believe Mr Hamilton's figures. ''I don't think it is good enough to look for cheap publicity,'' he claimed.
Mr Millar said there were workplace problems, and the STUC had been involved in a positive and constructive way in dealing with them. However, he said he did not believe this was a major problem, but the police would like to think it was because they wanted to take a more active part.
''This implies there should be more of these tests, but I don't think that should be the case. In many cases, they should not have them at all.''
Stressing the STUC was not taking a pro-drug line, he said he would like to see the statistics and Mr Hamilton should submit them through ''the normal machinery''.
Mr Hamilton had indicated he found ''increasingly worrying'' the number of employers, ''particularly those at national and international levels'', telling them of an alarming rise in the number of potential and current employees failing drug-screening.
''Such tests have become more prevalent as part of recruiting programmes, for instance, and I find it very alarming indeed that their statistics suggest a hit rate of around 50% among skilled workers and 85% in what might be called unskilled labour.
''Obviously these figures have worrying implications for employers and employees alike as well as for the much wider community.''
Mr Hamilton stressed his force would always make itself available to help any programmes and activities these companies wanted to become involved in, to deal with workplace drugs problems.
The chief constable made his remarks when he unveiled measures to ''help win the war'' against drug abuse in Fife. The plans include the appointment of a dedicated drugs liaison officer.
His concerns come just weeks after the force indicated that heroin and cocaine problems in its area were rising with an unprecedented availability of heroin for all age groups.
Mr Hamilton said that surveys repeatedly confirmed the high incidence of experimental drug abuse by young people ''indeed at a very young age in some cases''.
He indicated the force's drugs strategy had three key objectives, including increasing the safety of communities from drug-related crime.
It also aims for reduction of the acceptability and availability of drugs to the young, and reducing the health risks and other damage related to misuse.
He said drug abuse was one of the greatest social problems still facing the police and communities as a whole. ''The amount of reported crime which is directly or indirectly attributable to drug abuse has been estimated at somewhere between 50% and 70% and the effects of drug abuse on the lives of users and those who live in communities where drugs are prevalent are both far-reaching and complex.''
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