The news left my office in shock as it worked it’s way through the rumor mill, it was hard to believe that one of our coworkers had been arrested. The fact that it was for murder was even more shocking and many people, myself included, were inclined to believe that the charges would be dropped. How could someone that we all liked, who was outgoing, polite, and kind kill his 79 year old neighbor?

We heard later that there had been a confession and all the information points to robbery to feed a drug habit. For all the stories of people that have turned their lives around and overcome addiction to make something of themselves there are stories like this one. It doesn’t matter what the ratio is, one relapsing addict that murders a neighbor is all it takes to keep people scared of helping and hiring those trying to kick the habit. If a recovering addict can’t get a job and no one trusts them, how can we expect them to believe in themselves enough to recover? Yet, how can you justify risking the well being of your employees and loved ones by helping someone with a problem so large that it can turn them from a well-liked, “outstanding achiever” award winner to a murderer?

Life is full of hard questions and hard decisions, and I don’t think anyone can blame an employer for not hiring a recovering drug addict (although it’s illegal to discriminate against them). I do hope that people will keep in mind those inspiring stories of redemption and strength and if you can’t bring yourself to hire someone who is recovering then donate to, or help, an organization that will.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 6:34 am and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.