Comments on Stoned off the Job

This is a sham and you know it. It shouldn't matter if you get high when you're not at work, with or without a doctor's approval.

If I can drink myself silly on my own time, I should also be able to smoke myself silly, snort myself silly, shoot myself silly, or do whatever else gets me high.

i think that's what dominic was saying, six shooter.

Well, well. Guess us cowboys here in Colorado are more civilized than you "enlightened" northwesterners on this issue. We can't be fired for anything we do while off work - legal or illegal.

you can work at a bank, and if you rob another bank on the weekend, you can't be fired?

you can be a surgeon and get busted for drunk driving and if it's on a weekend, you're still allowed to slice into me??

ditto truck driver/allowed to drive?

@4,

That's all illegal activity. Many employers don't like to employ criminals. Smoking medical marijuana in Oregon is not a crime.

Oh, this issue is so tired. I wonder if the upwardly mobile, capitalist pharmacist contingent will be able to refuse to dispense medical pot to patients due to their "religious" beliefs.

@4, hard as it may be for you to believe, yes, that's correct.

the contractor's lobby should be careful not to pick a fight they might actually (with this government) win, because they could be setting a precedent they may not want to be applied more broadly. i've known more than a few people in that industry who legitimately suffer very severe chronic pain, but, for fear of disability-based discrimination, keep quiet and "find ways" to pick up narcotic prescription drugs to manage pain (on and) off the clock. if you're saying we should institute laws that say someone with a *medically documented* condition cannot receive *legal, medically approved* relief off the clock, then what to do about those (more than you'd think) other employees *without* a documented condition (legitimate or not) who are illegally receiving relief from more socially accepted opiod painkillers? shouldn't we be testing those folks and applying the same penalties there as well?

also, the notion of disability-based discrimination is very real, and is detestable because it is totally not taken seriously. i myself suffer from an extremely real and very terrible chronic pain condition that i am stuck with for the rest of my life (i'm not too thrilled about it to say the least - nobody would be). i am currently switching jobs and am afraid to mention this situation to future employers because i've seen with my own eyes people get passed over on jobs and promotions and relegated to the fringes (if not outright canned) for even hinting at their conditions, etc. the discrimination is subtle and occurs over weeks and months, but happens to so, so many people...

and there's no way in HELL i'd ever tell them that i am permitted for medical marijuana for fear of discrimination or worse. it's really a shitty situation because, while i'm grateful to be able to get very real relief for my pain, i'm forced to "stay in the closet" about it and my condition, at least at work. i really resent and am saddened at having to live in fear of ever being found out for receiving relief for severe chronic pain that i (and you) really, really would never want to have in the first place.

Isn't marijuana different from other drugs, in terms of the duration and half-life of the buzz? When I used to get baked on a Friday nights, I was pretty much shagged all weekend. But that was the 80s- perhaps we had better dope back then.

@5:
No, illegal doesn't matter; see @3, @7.

@7:
OK. Got it. Illegal is okey-dokey.

Will try to avoid getting surgery in cowboy Colo., I guess.

Oh, and sorry for asking questions instead of Believing In The Obvious Truth Uncritically.

Thinking obviously wrong. My bad.

Will say 5 Hail Mary's and 1 Our Father, then pray for forgiveness.

Does anyone have any info on exactly who is being drug tested? Author Barbara Ehrenreich writes in Nickel and Dimed about getting drug tested when applying at Wal-Mart and at a building supply warehouse store. Yet in my thoroughly middle class job I could smoke pot all weekend but as long as I show up on Monday morning able to do my work no one is going to care. Is drug testing just mainly for low end jobs and therefore one more way in which American society penalizes poor people for being poor?

You know, RainMan, I never looked at it quite that way, but I think you're onto something.

I was required to take a drug test to work at KNDD in the 1990s. That was before the Viacom takeover. Now, it's owned by yet another company. I have no idea if the requirement still stands, and whether that's standard for the industry, but I've never encountered that requirement at other stations here in WA or AK.

I think you're off the mark as far as Adderall is concerned. I'm much prefer people be on their ADHD meds if they have a need for them, particularly if they're doing precision or dangerous work.

#11 You get drug tested for a lot of jobs that are not low end. Pilots, air traffic controllers, Long shore man, and carpenters among others. I know a carpenter sounds like a low end job, but a union carpenter makes close to 70 grand a year.

Rainman is correct, however. Several years ago one of the drug reform groups (probably Drug Policy Alliance) did a survey of who gets drug tested and the overwhelming majority were low-end retail and service workers. Certain highly paid blue collar jobs get tested fairly often. Virtually no white collar workers have to undergo testing (and when they do, it's usually in a pre-employment screening, not random pee on demand).

Drug testing makes no sense unless X blood % (Y urine %) = impaired, as it does with alcohol. If X blood % = stoned a month ago, on vacation, but no impairment now, the test is worthless.

I worked guy last year who got stoned before we went out to work a construction job. He wasn't paying attention, and he dug too far past the pipeline and caught gazillion volt ground line. First, his arm blew off like a firecracker and then his right leg just went 'poof' and pretty much evaporated.

I guess smoking pot wasn't the best idea before work.

@18: Pics or it didn't happen.

As far as I can tell, it's mostly lower-paid jobs that get drug tested...a way to keep the poor people in line. Though certain industries will test-ie, a friend of mine works at an airline, and will get tested when she applys for a job; people who actually work on the plane (flight attendants, pilots, etc.) are randomly tested.

However, I live in Hawaii, which teacher's union just voted to allow random teacher drug testing in exchange for a pay raise. As a current graduate searching for a teaching job, I am now looking at private schools.

Drug tests discriminate against marijuana users, too, since pot stays in your system longer than any other drug.

I'd have a lot more to say on this topic but it is 7 am my time and I'm still sleepy.

The docs should come up with a piss test to see if you're really working to the best of your ability.

Until then, we'll have to settle for pesky managers, safety oversight, WSHA, co-workers who care about the quality of the work they do, and the personal satisfaction of a job well done to make sure workers keep on working.

I've never heard of a CEO getting fired for getting high.

Six Shooter wrote:

The docs should come up with a piss test to see if you're really working to the best of your ability.

How about we get over this idea of examining people's bodily fluids in search of substances that might cause impairment and instead institute impairment testing? No urine test can tell you that someone didn't sleep last night and can barely focus on his work as a result.

I'm a truck driver. My little local route pays 35K/year

I had to pass drug tests to get hired, and with both the companies I've worked for, I've managed to win the Dixie Cup Lottery about every six months.

When I was a library paraprofessional (making 22K), I never had to take a drug test.

I can see testing those of us in charge of heavy machinery. (A bus driver here in AR, responsible for several fatalities, tested postive for meth) I never understood why retail found it a necessity. No one ever got killed with a Wal-Mart scanner.