A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF JOB OPPORTUNITY BY EMPLOYEE TO THE FORMER DRUG USERS IN MALAYSIA

The holistic recovery of drug users depends on total abstinence and a successful community re-integration program. reintegration program opts for a holistic approach, and one of the indicators used is based on the former drug users ability to stay in long term employment. it is crucial for employers to give employment opportunities to former drug users after they have successfully completed a rehabilitation program. this article aims to discuss the comparison of employer support between groups of persons under supervision who have completed the rehabilitation within 6-11 months (k1) programme and those who have undergone a period of rehabilitation within 12-24 months (k2). this quantitative study was conducted using cross-sectional design. the study selected 386 person under supervision (189 respondents in k1 programmes and 197 respondents in k2) from four main zones of peninsular malaysia. the employer support instrument (esi) created and used in the study consists of 10 major items. data was analyzed using descriptive analysis such as frequency, mean, mode, median, percentage and standard deviation. the analysis showed no significant difference between the level of employers support for k1 and k2 employees. a majority in both groups received moderate support from their employers (75.1%). further comparative analysis revealed that k2 received slightly higher employer's support (75.6%) than k1 (74.6%) although no noticeable difference regarding supporting level. the findings also bring to light the need to establish mechanisms of relapse prevention and complete recovery of okp with a focus on reducing the constraints to find job opportunity due to long term “institutionalization,” providing a quality job opportunity and strengthening the components of employment offered by employers. the findings of this research provide insight into the potential for total recovery by providing employment with the expectation of former drug users’ success in community re-integration.