Today’s commercial truck drivers face tight schedules and long stints on the road alone. For some of them, the burdens of the job become too much to manage. Often, the people driving commercial trucks wind up turning to drugs, among them amphetamines, while on the job, even though doing so may have deadly repercussions.
According to the American Addiction Centers, truck drivers receive payment on a per-mile basis, so many of them are willing to do what it takes to log as many miles as possible at a time. While some truckers may rely on caffeine to help keep them awake and alert behind the wheel, others turn to amphetamines.
Research about amphetamine abuse among truckers
Studies have revealed conflicting information about exactly how common amphetamine abuse is in commercial trucking. However, there is widespread agreement that the percentage of commercial truckers using these substances is entirely too high.
In one study of truck drivers and their working conditions, 30% of those surveyed acknowledged using amphetamines on the job. The results of 36 separate studies on the topic, however, show that amphetamine abuse in commercial trucking is far more widespread. According to those studies, conducted over a 10-year period, as many as 82.5% of commercial truck drivers have admitted to abusing these dangerous drugs on the job.
Hazards associated with amphetamine abuse
While using amphetamines may boost alertness for a period, it may cause dangerous side effects that impair driving ability, too. Truckers who use amphetamines may experience hallucinations. They may, too, develop heart problems or drug dependencies as a result, both of which may further impair driving performance.
