The purpose of this project is to develop a rich, detailed understanding of the impact employee drug problems have on the small business place. Such a project is necessary because while small business continues to be a primary source of job growth in this country, there has been no systematic study of: (1) the degree to which drug problems have affected small business; (2) the means used by small business to understand the implications of and viable solutions to drug problems; (3) the policies and practices small businesses have implemented to address these problems; and (4) the perceived effectiveness of those policies and practices. At the same time, there is reason to believe that small business may be uniquely affected by drug problems, and may require different solutions than those currently employed in larger worksites. This project uses a field research method involving primarily on site interviews with a stratified random sample of 300 small businesses. Each site will be visited twice during the project and questions surrounding the issues noted in the above paragraph addressed. Specific attention will be devoted to the interpretation given to drug problems by management, as well as the relationships between characteristics of a worksite (e.g. size, industry, technology), its environment (e.g. demographic characteristics of its labor market), and the policies and practices adopted by the worksite to address drug problems.
