High on their jobs

Aspen and Crested Butte Win for Most Workers Who Like the Weed

By Mitzi Rapkin, 5-03-06

The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, John Walters said the highest percentage of positive tests for marijuana use among Colorado’s workforce occurred in Aspen and Crested Butte, Colorado the Aspen Daily News is reporting.

A workplace study revealed 3.92 percent of employees in Aspen and Crested Butte failed drug testing in 2004 the newspaper writes. The national average of workers failing drug tests is 2.8 percent.

But marijuana isn’t the only problem. The ONDCP states that a 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health ranked Colorado first among the 50 states in illicit drug use other than marijuana in the past month and cocaine use in the past year.

This isn’t exactly earth shattering news however. Last winter the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a study that showed Colorado ranked number one for cocaine use, fourth for use of any illegal drug, first for use of any illegal drug except marijuana and eight for marijuana use. Despite these statistics, Colorado ranks 49th out of 50 states in per-capita spending for substance abuse programs.

The Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights known as TABOR has caused funding sources to disappear on the state level and pressure for funding for these essential services are increasingly being felt at the local level. While the greater Aspen/Pitkin County Community benefits from a number of Health and Human services, including issues related to drug abuse, there is always room for improvement. The biggest drug bust in Aspen history occurred on December 2, 2005 and was a divisive issue in the community.

Despite the division in the community, it highlighted a desire in Aspen and Pitkin County to look at ways to increase the monies dedicated to drug issues and services. Pitkin County is currently developing a strategy for renewing a ballot question for a November election for Health and Human service funding that will soon run out.

Health and Human Services Director Nan Sundeen told the Aspen Daily News, “After the drug raid the city became interested in finding out how they might be more effective or useful in the grants they give to non-profits. So we said let’s meet with some people and try to create a master plan and look comprehensively at the services we are providing to see if there are some gaps and ways to methodically and deliberately handle substance abuse,” she said.

About 20 people including Aspen Police Chief Loren Ryerson people showed up to the meeting to brainstorm how to find funds to increase services related to drug abuse. “One approach we are thinking about is to have the Aspen City Council fund these efforts more directly, helping non-profits get grants, finding a way the City can get a grant or supporting Pitkin County with the tax question. We want to look at what needs more support and identify gaps in service and support present providers and be supportive of the community,” Ryerson said.

Last spring there was a community forum on drug abuse and suicide called The Divided Self that was widely attended. Ryerson he is glad the support continues today. “I was so thrilled people in the community wanted to discuss this. We get accused of just wanting to arrest people so one of my main goals is that it’s not just a police issue it’s a community issue and if we’re going to be successful to solve this problem the whole community has to support this idea.”

Included in that community is the work force that the ONDCP identified as being the “highest” on the job. While it’s too late to nip that problem in the bud, it’s never too late, according to Sundeen and Ryerson to face the problem head on.

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