The heroin epidemic in North America has received much attention, but overdose deaths from prescription sedative drugs (benzodiazepines, or benzos) like Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin has also soared. Benzos are prescribed for anxiety, mood disorders, and insomnia - common complaints among employees. Research in the American Journal of Public Health reports overdose deaths are up to 400 percent since 1996. A key finding: 75 percent of heroin death also involve these medications. Combining benzos…

Beware of income tax scams. Here is one: The caller claims to represent the IRS and knows your name, phone number, street address, and possibly the last four digits of your Social Security number. The grief gives you his or her name and employee ID, and a "case number." (Fact: Real IRS officials also identify themselves this way.) The caller says your income taxes from three years ago are in error. A warrant for your arrest has been issued. You are then asked to pay the overdue amount wire…

Adderall is a stimulant (amphetamine) used primarily to treat attention to deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A 2016 report from John Hopkins University shows a continual increase in Adderall abuse by young people (ages 18 to 25) despite a decrease in the total number of prescriptions nationwide. Abuse of Adderall typically originates with medication being stolen or illicitly given to others. Although Adderall is rarely addictive for those who legitimately use it with a prescription, its…

Many factors can contribute to workplace stress. Some may be out of your awareness. Discover them with a guided approach. Consider working with a counselor or your employee assistance program to find interventions in the following areas: 

• Your workload, capabilities, need for resources, techniques or approaches to the job
• Discovery of more meaning in the work finding inspiration
• Your role and its modification
• Being given more responsibility
• Required time/frequency of work
• Your need to…

Don't panic about February's payment-due notices from your holiday spending. Instead, get deliberate and determined about knocking them off fast. Here's an idea many money gurus recommend: For now, remove the plastic from your wallet and pay cash. You will be forced to conserve what you have available each day, and you will spend less than you typically do. Next, visit your online bank checking account register. (Most of us have one these days.) Log in and go to the withdrawal/debit column.…

No employees wants to bring problems to work, but some problems may not stay away -- like a stalker. Have you feared for your safety because of someone making unwanted phone calls, sending unsolicited letters or emails, or following you, perhaps at work, for no legitimate reason? Stalking is a serious criminal offense with over three million victims per year. Stalkers often appear at work because the victim must show up there. About one-fourth of stalking victims have experienced lost income or…

If getting off on the right food financially in 2017 sounds good, and you're determined to start a budget that you will stick with, follow these tips: 1) Forget a crash diet budget. A crash diet budget is one where you decide to give up every bit of fun and extraneous expense. Doing so eventually leads to budget failure, because you're only human. In a weak moment, you'll break it, and from there things could possibly fall apart. A better plan is to include in your budget some money for…

Situational awareness refers to staying aware of your surroundings to avoid becoming a victim of a "crime of opportunity." Traveling on a subway, dropping a child off at school, walking a parking garage, or carrying purchases to your car can present an opportunity for a mugging, robbery, assault, theft, or carjacking. Your intuition and senses are the best tools for perceiving threats so you can act decisively should danger present itself. Police officers are trained in situational awareness,…

The data breach of 40 million consumer credit cards at Target Corporation highlights the growing problem of cybercrime. Cybercriminals don't use manual guesses to discover your log-in info and password. They use computer programs Trustwave, a company that consults on cybersecurity, says the most commonly stolen passwords are the ones that are easily guessed. Hackers also recently stole 2 million website log-in credentials at Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Most stolen records had really easy…