does zero tolerance work?
Author InfoStephen Mehay Natalie Webb Abstract Current drug policy in the US military mandates frequent random drug testing of service members and dismissal of those who test positive for illegal drugs. This article analyses the economic costs and benefits of this zero tolerance policy as applied in the US Navy. Program effects consist of the actual number of detected users and the predicted number of deterred potential users. Productivity losses imposed by drug users are based on reported annual workdays lost due to drug use in the Navy. The productivity losses avoided by deterring and detecting users constitute program benefits. Program costs include the cost of replacing service members who are dismissed under the zero tolerance policy. Net benefits are sensitive to three key parameters – the deterrence effect, replacement cost, and productivity losses due to drug use. The results show that net benefits are negative for most plausible values of the key parameters. Download InfoTo do
Author InfoStephen 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 va
