Ohio’s opioid crisis is a threat to the state’s families, health, and to its economy. Now the Ohio Chamber of Commerce is stepping up to offer help to companies struggling to deal with the business ramifications of the addiction epidemic.
For several years, Ohio’s employers have complained their biggest business challenge has been hiring. Too many job candidates cannot pass drug tests and too many jobs are left unfilled.
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In response, the chamber has crafted what it calls an online opioid toolkit to help companies manage in an environment with epidemic-level drug addiction.
The resource offers help for employers and workers, including videos, online courses with advice for workplace drug policies, drug-testing procedures, and best practices for handling drug issues at work.
The toolkit’s resources are focused mainly on opioid painkiller addiction, which has experienced an explosive growth in Ohio in recent years. But many resources and practices would apply to any substance-abuse problems for companies, chamber representatives said.
The chamber worked with Working Partners, a company that develops drug-free workplace programs to create the toolkit. A representative from Working Partners estimated the opioid epidemic caused Ohio to lose 2,500 adults from the workforce in 2016 alone.
The turnover expenses and rising health care costs associated with the addiction epidemic are hindering Ohio’s businesses, she said.
More than that, the chamber said its members asked for help dealing with the crisis that they can see is devastating their communities and families.
The addiction crisis has gripped the entire nation, but Ohio has persistently remained one of the hardest-hit states. In 2016, more than 4,000 Ohioans died of unintentional drug overdoses.
While the rest of the nation has largely rebounded from the 2008 Great Recession, Ohio’s recovery has been slower and many small communities — the same communities crushed by the burden of the opioid epidemic — have been left behind.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce has done the state’s business community a great service with its toolkit. These are the sorts of resources and guidance a business community ought to be able to expect to get from a state government motivated to help business and communities in the way that chamber members were.
Instead, however, Ohio’s businesses, school districts, police departments, social service agencies, and neighborhoods have been left to fend for themselves.
The opioid crisis is taking a toxic toll on Ohio. The state’s elected leaders — notably Gov. John Kasich — have failed the workers, employers, and communities struggling to manage the crisis.
First Published March 30, 2018, 9:37 p.m.
