Workers' pot use up on NZ average

More Wairarapa workers may be using cannabis than elsewhere in the country but harder drug use is less prevalent, according to the New Zealand Drug Detection Agency ( NZDDA).

As a result more and more employers were using random drug tests in the workplace, said the agency's Central region general manager Jason Trembath, who works from a Masterton office.

"The majority of working people don't use drugs so they're happy to see testing done as it makes their working environment much safer," he said.

"For some it's a lifetime habit and in many cases it's the push they need to get off it."

On-site workplace drug tests increased nationwide by 31 per cent last year.

Definitive Wairarapa figures were difficult to estimate as the region is covered by two sets of testing figures: Wellington region which runs up to Carterton, and Central region, covering Masterton up to Mt Ruapehu.

But Mr Trembath said cannabis was more prevalent in Wairarapa than most parts of the country.

"In the Greater Wellington region and Wairarapa, cannabis use is generally about 10 per cent higher than the national average," he said.

'While the cannabis rate is high the use of opiates and amphetamine-based drugs is about half the national average."

He said income was a factor in the types of drugs used.

"What's interesting is those drugs such as speed and Ecstasy are more expensive [than cannabis] and they tend to be more popular in places where the average income is higher."

Latest NZDDA figures show the number of non-negative drug tests in the Wellington region has dropped from 8 per cent in 2011 to 6 per cent in 2012.

About 81 per cent of non-negative tests were for cannabis, compared to 71 per cent nationwide. A further 9 per cent of drugs detected were opiates, 4 per cent were amphetamine-based drugs and 1 per cent recorded for benzodiazepine. There were no incidences of cocaine recorded.

The figures refer to the results of initial screening tests, and are not confirmed outright as positive by a laboratory.

Mr Trembath estimated up to 400 tests were done in Masterton workplaces every year, with most of those tested being from the forestry, manufacturing and transport, construction and civil engineering industries.