One in 12 full-time workers in the United States acknowledges having used illegal drugs in the past month, according to a new government report.

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Officials said the newest survey is a snapshot and was not designed to show whether illicit drug use in the workplace is a growing problem or a lessening one.

Those most likely to use illegal drugs were restaurant workers, at 17.4 percent, and construction workers, at 15.1 percent, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration said.

Among the lowest users were teachers and social service workers, with about 4 percent of each group reporting having used drugs at work in the past month.

For most, the drug of choice was marijuana, the report said.

The study was based on a national sample of 128,000 people ages 18 to 64 interviewed between 2002-2004.

Illegal drugs were defined in the survey as use of marijuana/hashish, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, or inhalants, or prescription psychotherapeutics used non-medicinally.

Heavy alcohol use was defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on five or more days in the past 30 days.

The survey also identified whether respondents had a substance use disorder, meaning drug or alcohol dependence or abuse, based on standard diagnostic criteria.

The highest rates of heavy alcohol use were found among construction, mining, excavation and drilling workers, at 17.8 percent, and installation, maintenance, and repair workers, at 14.7 percent, the report said.

Who Does Drugs At Work?"The high rates of drug and alcohol use in hazardous industries is cause for concern," said Elena Carr, drug policy coordinator at the U.S. Department of Labor.

"Clearly businesses can ill-afford the risk of having workers operating meat slicers, backhoes, or other dangerous equipment while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which is one reason why DOL helps employers and employees work together to proactively prevent such safety hazards," she said.

Illegal drug use and heavy alcohol use are associated with higher levels of absenteeism and frequent job changes, the report said.

"Employees who use drugs miss work more often, are less healthy, and are more prone to harming themselves and others in the workplace," Director of National Drug Control Policy John Walters said.

Among the findings on absenteeism:

• Twice as many current illegal drug users skipped one or more days of work in the past month compared with workers who did not abuse drugs.
• Drug users were also far more likely to report missing two or more work days in the past month due to illness or injury compared with workers who did not abuse drugs.
• Most of the nation’s roughly 16.4 million current illicit drug users and approximately 15 million heavy alcohol users hold full-time jobs.
• Substance users also had far higher job turnover rates. Among full-time workers who reported current illicit drug use, 12.3 percent said they had worked for three or more employers in the past year, compared with 5.1 percent of non-abusing workers.

Current drug users were more likely to work for employers who did not conduct drug or alcohol testing programs, the report said. Nearly one-third of current illegal drug users said they would be less likely to work for employers who conducted random drug testing.