Working Paper: NBER ID: w7383
Authors: Stephen L. Mehay; Rosalie Liccardo Pacula
Abstract: Workplace drug testing programs are becoming increasingly more common although there is little research demonstrating that they have any effect on drug use by employees. This paper analyzes the deterrence effect of a particularly aggressive workplace drug- testing policy implemented by the military in 1981. The military's policy incorporates random drug testing of current employees and zero tolerance. Using data from various years of the Department of Defense's Worldwide Survey of Health Related Behaviors and the NHSDA, we find illicit drug prevalence rates among military personnel are significantly lower than civilian rates in years after the implementation of the program but not before, suggesting a sizeable deterrence effect. These basic findings are replicated with data from the NLSY. The NLSY are also used to explore sensitivity of the deterrence effect to the probability of detection and severity of punishment, which varied across military branches during the first few years of the program's implementation.
Keywords: workplace drug prevention; zero tolerance; drug testing; deterrence effect
JEL Codes: I18; J28
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Reduction in illicit drug use among military personnel (H56) | Military personnel's drug use rates are significantly lower than civilians' (H56) |
| Self-selection into military service based on attitudes towards drug use (H56) | Difference in drug use rates between military personnel and civilians (H56) |
| Variations in probability of detection and severity of punishment (K49) | Sensitivity of deterrence effect (K00) |
| Military's zero tolerance drug testing policy (Z28) | Reduction in illicit drug use among military personnel (H56) |