Alcohol abuse is overrated, while drug abuse is underrated. The DSM manual suggests that substance abuse there are differences in the definition of drug and alcohol use. To confuse matters worse the law has its own version of who is an alcoholic or drug addict. Some of the symptoms that help professionals determine if alcohol and drugs are a problem include, excessive drinking/drugging, problems with the law, withdrawal symptoms, shaking of the hands, and so forth.
Random drug and alcohol screening is used by many UK companies to deter the use or abuse of illegal drugs and / or alcohol by employees within the workplace. There have been a large number of case studies to demonstrate how effective random screening is in reducing accidents, absenteeism, ill health, litigation, etc.