Weed!

[Dirk Diggler]

I guess Dirk was absent the day they showed Refer Madness in high school health class?!?

Attachment 19455

I don't care what you smoke...but how do you get hired anywhere? Is there any employer who doesn't drug test before hiring these days?

There's all kinds of ways around testing, fake urine, detox products etc. There has already been talks of lawsuits against testing for Cannabis in legal states as its a total invasion of privacy. Just think in the 70s nobody was tested, they took you at your word if they even asked, we need to get back to that. Then the Reagans ramped up their "Just say No" rhetoric, lumping in Cannabis with actual life destroying drugs like Heroin and Cocaine. I suspect when prohibition ends, drug testing will be restricted to aforementioned narcotics. The wacky part is weed is the only substance that is fat soluble meaning it takes roughly 30 days to leave your system vs everything else that is water soluble, only taking 3 to 5 days. So in a sense its a pot test not a drug test. You can't tell me that just because I smoked a joint 2 weeks ago at a Billy Squire concert that that's the reason I slipped and fell today, cancelling my workers comp and getting me fired. Things like this happen all the time sadly. Or that my company doesn't recognize my medical marijuana prescription as valid and terminating me. Now for the record, I'm completely against going to work high or drunk, that's my reward for when I get home.

[Dirk Diggler]

Dirk I thought you where from Georgia? That place still has very Draconian anti-weed laws on the books.

But I agree it should be legal and that its a waste of police resources to bust potheads and hippies. I would prefer to see the police go after violent crime instead of stoners in tie dyed t-shirts

Georgia is very draconian but just wait its slowly turning purple.

[dspace9]

I don't agree with drug testing at all. It's basically a morality-based test; there are lots of responsible, successful folks who dabble in cocaine or marijuana a few times a year; I don't get why all users get lumped in jail in the same room as violent offenders.

Really annoys me, because someone who uses coke excessively may be harming themselves, but they're not hurting anyone else. If McDonald's food has led to 50% obesity rates, maybe we all need to rethink what is healthy lifestyle choices, and what is demonstrably causing 45" waistlines.

Again, drug laws are old fashioned morality mores. Look at Portugal, they decriminalized EVERYTHING in 2001, and they see excessive drug abuse as a medical condition, which it is.

[timw4mail]

Personally, I don't much care, except smoking... I'd rather not have to breathe that kind of polluted air.

[Eggman]

I don't agree with drug testing at all.

Okay, here's where we gotta be careful about how this discussion goes.

I would be out of my mind if I found out some scumbag dealer got one of my family members hooked on drugs, whether it is coke, heroin, or the like.

There has to be room there for discussion and nuance - can't just make a blanket statement against testing for illicit, illegal drugs.

[Dirk Diggler]

Personally, I don't much care, except smoking... I'd rather not have to breathe that kind of polluted air.

The world of edibles awaits you my friend! : )

[Mark]

Okay, here's where we gotta be careful about how this discussion goes.

I would be out of my mind if I found out some scumbag dealer got one of my family members hooked on drugs, whether it is coke, heroin, or the like.

There has to be room there for discussion and nuance - can't just make a blanket statement against testing for illicit, illegal drugs.

I took my first drug test about 2 months ago. I was attending a 3-week commercial truck driving school, & it was required. Some jobs don't mix well with alcohol/drugs. I think an employer should have ever right to test for either. I also feel police officers should have that option to keep our roads safe. I want to drive on safe roads, too!

Using a hand held device while driving a semi-truck can cost a driver over $2,500 in fines. The trucking company can be fined up to $11,000 on top of that. After driving a 70' rig for the first time, I quickly understood why these things are taken so seriously.

I have never felt the need to get high. I don't mind a good drink at times, but I lost the desire to get drunk decades ago. Having been in public education for 30+ years, I've seen too many lives/families destroyed or ruined by alcohol or drug abuse to overly defend anything related to them.

[Dirk Diggler]

It should be made clear that drug testing has its role in certain situations, like ICU drug screenings to help in diagnosis of overdose cases etc. I would advocate test for illegal substances only, not prescription/recreational cannabis. An employer wouldn't think twice if Xanax or some other prescribed benzo were to show up in results.

[Loren]

Once weed becomes fully legal and accepted, I think testing becomes a matter of degree. For instance, if you did a drug test for "sensitive" employment, and they found alcohol in your blood, that's fine. If they found 0.11% alcohol in your blood, that's not fine. I don't know anything about the drug tests that are done and their degree of accuracy, but I can see it going in that direction. THC in your system? Fine... how much??? Other drugs that are more controlled in your system? Do you have a prescription for them, and is the amount in your system consistent with that?

While weed itself may not be an addictive substance, the lifestyle and the desire that some people have to get/stay high IS addictive, and chronic use/abuse CAN be a problem. They need to develop ways to test for that vs. the current "yes or no" testing.

I'm in the same camp as Mark, probably even more so. I've never been a drinker of alcohol or a user of drugs. Growing up, I had an alcoholic father, and an older brother who was in all sorts of trouble with drugs (mid-late 1970's, go figure). Later, my younger sister became an alcoholic, and my even younger sister became a meth addict. I've seen the negative side of all of it, and just decided to avoid it all. But, I don't judge (much). Y'all do what you want, just don't cause problems for anyone else.

My son, when he was in his very late teens and early 20's, got into casual weed use. He was a high functioning smoker for several years until he started letting it take over his life. Then he lost his apartment, a good job, a room in a good friend's house that I set him up with, got in with a bunch of young punk thieves (at least two of which are currently in jail) and ultimately found himself living on the street. He's fine now (creeping up on 30)... but, weed isn't the completely harmless drug that a lot of people think it is. It deserves some respect, and... yes, probably some testing in many instances.

Sorry, didn't mean to be a downer. "Everything in moderation."

[Dirk Diggler]

Once weed becomes fully legal and accepted, I think testing becomes a matter of degree. For instance, if you did a drug test for "sensitive" employment, and they found alcohol in your blood, that's fine. If they found 0.11% alcohol in your blood, that's not fine. I don't know anything about the drug tests that are done and their degree of accuracy, but I can see it going in that direction. THC in your system? Fine... how much??? Other drugs that are more controlled in your system? Do you have a prescription for them, and is the amount in your system consistent with that?

While weed itself may not be an addictive substance, the lifestyle and the desire that some people have to get/stay high IS addictive, and chronic use/abuse CAN be a problem. They need to develop ways to test for that vs. the current "yes or no" testing.

I'm in the same camp as Mark, probably even more so. I've never been a drinker of alcohol or a user of drugs. Growing up, I had an alcoholic father, and an older brother who was in all sorts of trouble with drugs (mid-late 1970's, go figure). Later, my younger sister became an alcoholic, and my even younger sister became a meth addict. I've seen the negative side of all of it, and just decided to avoid it all. But, I don't judge (much). Y'all do what you want, just don't cause problems for anyone else.

My son, when he was in his very late teens and early 20's, got into casual weed use. He was a high functioning smoker for several years until he started letting it take over his life. Then he lost his apartment, a good job, a room in a good friend's house that I set him up with, got in with a bunch of young punk thieves (at least two of which are currently in jail) and ultimately found himself living on the street. He's fine now (creeping up on 30)... but, weed isn't the completely harmless drug that a lot of people think it is. It deserves some respect, and... yes, probably some testing in many instances.

Sorry, didn't mean to be a downer. "Everything in moderation."

Everything in moderation....including moderation.