Wall Street Traders Bullish on Marijuana, Prescription Drugs

In the high-flying '80s and '90s Wall Street employees were known as big cocaine users, but in these more sedate times investment professionals are turning to marijuana and prescription drugs to ease their stress, the Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 20.

Drug testing of employees at Wall Street firms found that 80 percent of positive tests last year were for marijuana, up from 64 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, positive tests for cocaine fell from 16 percent of the total to 7 percent.

Amphetamine use rose from 3 percent in 2007 to 10 percent of positive tests in 2009.

“Investment bankers — gunslingers, as we call them — are highly prone to addiction,” said Robert Curry of the Connecticut-based Turning Point for Leaders program. “And there’s a lot of denial among employers. The attitude is: ‘If they can’t fix themselves, then they’re going to have to live with it. We’re not going to put any time and effort into it.’”

“The titans of Wall Street normalize crazy behavior all the time,” added Brad Lamm of New York's Intervention Specialists. “If somebody’s delivering and showing up and doing the work, they almost have to catch on fire for someone to sound the alarm.”

The upside of this benign neglect is that employers are more apt to approve rehab for a productive worker than firing them: “Dead guys don’t bonus,” explained Lamm.