Anyone taking an drug is at risk of becoming dependent on it. And people in any job description—as well as the unemployed—are susceptible to addiction. However some jobs are much more at risk than others. The information below is based on data assembled by the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance program from 2007 to 2012.
All Drug Overdoses
There are 8 occupations that have a risk of mortality greater than all occupations combined. In order from lowest to highest risk, these are Arts and media, personal care and service, unpaid workers, food preppers and servers, health care workers, extraction, health-care and support, and the highest by far are construction workers.
Heroin Overdoses
One again in order from bad to worse here are the industries facing heroin overdoses: Health-care support, personal care and service, building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, art and media, food prep and serving, and once again construction workers.
Prescription Opioid Overdoses
For our final category, let’s look at prescription opioid overdoses, again, in worsening order: arts and media, food prep and serving, unpaid workers, personal care and service, health-care support, construction, health-care practitioners, and finally extraction.
Patterns
Some patterns from that list are quickly apparent. We can see that the industries involved in each list are mostly the same. The jobs involved are often largely physical labor or people who have direct access to prescription medication. There’s also a heavy amount of stress and demanding work for all the jobs.
If you in one of these careers, take a moment to be proactive and learn about the dangers that you face in regards to addiction to drugs and alcohol. Because you are in a higher risk group, use this knowledge to help you make informed decisions about what medication to take and what to avoid. And if you do worry that you are becoming dependent on a drug no matter what field you are in, please seek help immediately and learn about your options for drug detox here in Florida by calling (833) 596-3502.