AlterNet: Do Employers Really Need to Give Drug Tests for Pot?

[marmar]

Do Employers Really Need to Give Drug Tests for Pot?

By Kelly McGannahan, AlterNet. Posted January 22, 2010.

Many former police officers, city officials, even corrections officers now favor a new drug paradigm. Surely it is time to revisit a system that protects few and harms many.




Some months back, at the behest of a former boss, I attempted to register with a work agency. The work was data cleaning at the hospital where previously I was a well-regarded employee. During the physical exam, I had a mandatory drug screen. It came up positive for marijuana and I am now banned from this agency. What is it about my story that is important or germane? I cooked my own goose, deserve no pity, but the experience has had the exemplary effect of clarifying my thoughts regarding the whole subject.

I admit to smoking marijuana. Smoking makes me a calmer, more balanced person. I'm also a fool for getting caught. Time was when I was both a frequent and enthusiastic user; I am now an infrequent, but no less enthusiastic, user. I believe that responsible marijuana use is a benign activity; drug use needs to be distinguished from drug abuse. Consciousness-altering techniques range from prayer and wine to music and dance; evidence shows that humans have used these methods as far back in the history of our species as we can see. (Please note that I am not defending those who would indulge in any substance and then risk harm to others.)

I have a Master's in Public Health (GPA 3.54). I am the mother of three bright, well-adjusted children. I am considered polite, articulate and generous. My house is relatively clean; meals are tasty and nutritious; laundry is dealt with in a timely fashion. My failing, according to some misplaced rules of law, is that I enjoy smoking marijuana a few nights a week after the kids are asleep. I do not drive or go to work after using even minimal amounts of marijuana. I can, however, tell my children about using Prozac, I can drink alcohol in front of them, I could even neglect them to play computer solitaire, but hike or play chess with marijuana in my system and I'm open to criminal prosecution.

My gripe? To start, the fealty to drug testing is impractical and may prove untenable. We live in a society that proclaims its citizens "innocent until proven guilty." Yet we have accepted routine drug testing for the sake of political and moral expediency. Who is being protected? Other substances are far more insidious; the vodka someone imbibes every morning would not disqualify them for a job, nor would two packs of cigarettes daily and the ensuing chronic bronchitis. Both however, will interfere with job performance. We assume responsible usage until there are signs of gross negligence; shouldn't marijuana be held to the same standards? Testing for marijuana is particularly invidious, the drug stays in the system longer than other drugs, and a positive test could target one as a drug user, regardless of actual usage. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/145355/do_employers_really_need_to_give_drug_tests_for_pot

[glowing]

1. The reason many companies do this is because of their ins. policy.

Most employers could care less to apply the cost of drug tests to employees they found acceptable to hire in the first place. If a test comes up positive (and let's be real here, they are basically testing for marijuana.. a cough medicine would disqualify many people if they actually tested for any other drugs), then they lose a qualified candidate. Its an invasive pain in the ass thing that is normally for the workman comp ins discount.

[mudplanet]

11. You can be a regular opiate user, discontinue use for a few days, and pass the test with flying

colors.

When are we going to start persecuting the alcohol users? The primary criteria that defines a "drug" is that is induces an altered state of consciousness, which pretty much guarantees that alcohol is A DRUG. When mom and dad are having a beer they are TAKING DRUGS. The majority of people are going to be able to use alcohol responsibly, but a significant proportion of users (something like 20-30%) are going to experience significant negative effects from its use, and many of those will die from using it.

Grass is green, the sky is blue, and alcohol is a drug. Drinkers are drug users. They belong is prison, where they can be serially raped while we make jokes about it over our morning coffee.

Either that, or we need to rethink our drug policy.

[glowing]

16. I don't think they even test for that.. so many people are prescribed actual

pain medication by Dr.s that it would subject a company to a law suit. Mainly, its for marijuana.

[mudplanet]

19. No, they test for opiates. And benzodiazapines, and cocaine, and barbituates.

As a social worker I know this for a fact. And benzo's are prescribed almost as widely as opiates. If you are prescribed benzos and become unemployed prepare to become all but unemployable. You are unsuitable to work the counter at the 7-11. Even if you have a prescription. It's illegal to discriminate in this way, but it is widespread (what's a poor person applying for a minimum wage job going to do about it?), just ask any experienced psychiatrist.

It's all pretty much a "bunch of bullshit." I don't want someone operating heavy equipment, driving a school bus, or working in surgery to be high, but what do I care if someone who gets stoned on marijuana when they go home is selling cigarettes and candy, or mopping a floor, or even driving a bus (as long as they aren't stoned while doing it)?

[madrchsod]

2. as stated the main problem with pot is that it does`t go away

one can do coke and crack fri and sat night and by monday there`s no trace. alcohol leaves the system with in a few hours. of all the substances pot is the least harmful to your health.

over the years i have witnessed several industrial accidents that involved pot and the majority of the rest were do to hang overs or drunk on the job.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. I live in Oregon, where many people use marijuana

and many are prevented from much employment because of that. So what we wind up with are lots of people in the public workforce who are very obviously using meth, which leaves the system quickly and allows a clean test. So how great is that? We wind up with poked, scattered, clearly drugged customer service, instead of having qualified, trustworthy and pleasant people to deal with. There are several businesses here that drug test at which I will not use a credit card, because their employees are meth heads and it is obvious. I told one store that I will not even shop there because of the drugs, and they said 'but we drug test' and I covered the facts. The manager looked stunned. I told him I simply can not trust his workers as they are strung the hell out. Strung out.
They even disqualify people who use marijuana exclusively as medicine, and there are many of those people, people who use it instead of heavy debilitating drugs. And they can not be hired, but a speed addict not only can be, but will be.
It is enough to make me consider moving to a more broadly based city, as there is too much speed here, and too much of the State law supports the meth users and that is in fact, a danger to the public.
Plus I get tired of seeing the bad skin, to be honest about it, hard to eat food made by people who seem to be dying of drug abuse. But they pee clean, so gee, that is great!
A bunch of idiots. And of course, it is yet again the Insurance Industry that is to blame for this.

[mudplanet]

13. What is "poked"? I've been out of the culture so long I don't know

the lingo anymore.

[doc03]

4. At our company they take a hair sample, I have heard they

can detect drug use for months with that test. I don't know if that is true or not but I am happy the even the Union supports the company with that test. The steel industry is a very hazardous occupation and we certainly don't need someone on coke running a crane or locomotive.

[Mopar151]

5. But a skull -cracking hangover

or hittin' on the Nyquil bottle is fine......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KeKeylrOIE
He's not exaggerating - I used to have a foreman hooked on the stuff.

[doc03]

6. The best craneman we ever had was

drunk everyday, he couldn't run the crane worth a damn sober. That is an exception to the rule though.

[Mopar151]

7. Hey, a real soak

gets SOBER around .10 BAC. If his BAC drops too low, he will go into withdrawal, and be anything but sober or worth a shit.

[Dr.Phool]

14. I worked on a steel railroad for over 30 years (in Ohio).

When I first started there, if you didn't bring a bottle, they'd send you home.

About 50% of the crews were drinking or smoking a little weed at work. And everybody knew it. We won the Harriman Award for the safest railroad in the country, almost every year. We would have taken the gold every year, but you weren't allowed, so we'd win gold, silver, gold, silver,.....

After they instituted mandatory random drug testing, we never so much as won an honorable mention again. Go figure.

I mentioned this to a friend of mine, who was a plant manager at a different manufacturer. He said, you know, I noticed the same thing in our plant. Accidents went up when they started drug testing.

[Gman2]

8. Worse than that, if you are a patient, you cannot work to support your illness.

Essentially, if you dont have your own home, that you can pay for while not working, or good luck being able to afford it. Or have the room to grow it. The officials want it to be legal, safe and almost impossible to find.

[Bennyboy]

9. This is my story exactly...

WEnt 39 days without, took two bottles of test clean was still positive for pot. had the job, was willing to not puff, but the doc asked me if I had a prescription to marinol (not MMJ)and said I failed the test. then I read the rules and penalties for pot on the job or in the system. Any raises you have a spot test. any accidents, spot test. And there is no way I can not smoke weed.

As soon as the start testing the legislators and supreme court justices, then I am down with it. but until then, Fuck em.

[SharonAnn]

10. Marinol is medical THC. Same ingredient as marijuana.

[Bennyboy]

12. Yeah I get that...

I also get that marinol is okay (made by Big Pharma) but not pot, the organic natural substance not made by big pharma...Even though I have a script in CA for pot it was not enough...

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

15. that is not accurate

Cannabis includes over 400 individual chemicals, most of them known as cannabinoids. Marinol is only THC and is widely held to be nowhere near as effective as the naturally occurring cannabis plant. There is a spray available in the UK and Canada named Sativex that is a "whole plant" extract, but those of us with gardening skills still know it is better and safer to grow your own medicine.

[Gman2]

17. Marinol makes you paranoid. Would hurt many patients.

I have talked to potheads that will not TOUCH a marinol tab. And they are bout 30 bucks a piece.

[Gman2]

18. Best to always have a tab or bottle left, in case you are tested, and especially if car accident.