Experience Recovery Blog

Addiction recovery is a journey—and one of the first steps on that journey is detox. Simply put, you need to rid your body of harmful and addictive toxins before you can focus on recovery in earnest. This is an important step in the recovery process, no matter the nature of your addiction—and yes, that includes addiction to prescription painkillers.

The road to recovery begins with detoxification. Whether you are addicted to drugs or to alcohol, those toxic chemicals can linger in your body for hours or even days, and they can continue to impact your body and mind—making true sobriety impossible. Simply put: You can’t pursue sobriety if you are still drinking or doing drugs!

The road to recovery is never the same from one person to the next. The treatment that works well for you may not work as well for your neighbor, and vice versa; it all hinges on the type and severity of your addiction, any co-occurring mental health disorders you have, and the amount of time you have to devote to treatment.

Some employers are required by law to have their employees screened for drug use; the Department of Transportation, in particular, may mandate this testing for employees who use certain vehicles or equipment. Employers always hope that their people will pass with flying colors, of course—but this isn’t always the case.

What happens when you have an employee who is required to take a DOT drug or alcohol test—and the test comes back positive? The short answer: As an employer, you are legally required to remove that employee from any safety-sensitive, DOT-covered activities, and to refer that employer to local, DOT-qualified substance abuse professionals (SAPs). You do not have to pay for evaluation or treatment, but you can’t put your employee back on the job site until he or she completes the DOT Return to Duty process, under the guidance of the SAP.