It can feel like all of South Florida is a construction zone, with roads being built and condo towers erected.
But new research from the New York University College of Global Public Health suggests there may be a dark side.
Construction workers as the number one profession where workers are most likely to use cocaine or abuse prescription opioids. They were also found to be the second most-likely profession to use marijuana.
According to the report, construction workers end up turning to drugs like cocaine and opioids to “self-treat” and manage the pain. Sometimes, this even creates a vicious cycle where workers are inebriated on the job due to a pre-existing injury, thus putting themselves at greater risk of another injury.
Previous studies conducted in Massachusetts and Ohio have found construction workers to be six to seven times more likely than other workers to die from an opioid overdose.
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