SMOKE ‘EM IF YA GOT ‘EM …
|| By FITSNEWS || Let’s face it: The economy is sucking wind. Despite all the artificial “stimulation,” all the media spin – and all the “double seasonal adjustment” – the status quo couldn’t put productivity back together again.
It’s not surprising, then, that workers in the “New Normal” – especially new college grads – might be inclined to look for something to ease their troubled minds.
Something like … weed.
According to The Wall Street Journal (which has been scratching its head lately over the economic doldrums), drug use among the American workforce – such as it is – is rising.
“Traces of drugs – from marijuana to methamphetamine to prescription opiates – were found in 3.9 percent of the 9.1 million urine tests conducted for employers by Quest Diagnostics Inc. in 2014, up from 3.7 percent in 2013,” the paper reported, noting the numbers “reflect the reversal of a longtime trend of declining drug use among workers.”
How long a trend? A quarter-century …
Hmmm … wonder what S.C. governor Nikki Haley thinks of all this …
Frankly, we don’t care if people fail a drug test. As long as they’re doing their jobs in the office – and not imposing on the liberties of others outside the office – we believe adult Americans should be allowed to get as high as they please. In fact the decriminalization of drugs could be a huge boon to the economy … not to mention a huge boost to taxpayers.
Is that how our government will react to this news?
Hell no …
Moralizing politicians – mostly “Republicans” who claim to support “limited government” – will no doubt pounce on this as an excuse to continue our nation’s costly, ill-fated “war on drugs.” Even though more than $1 trillion later, that war is a conclusive failure.
We’ve written previously on how the key to truly stimulating economic activity lies in embracing the free market and reducing unnecessary government. Putting the kibosh on the “war on drugs” would accomplish both objectives.
It makes perfect common sense … which is precisely why our leaders will never let it happen.
53 comments
“The War on Drugs” in the workplace is a loser. Employers should concentrate on the factors that may be a product of using drugs, poor work performance, dependability, insubordination, absenteeism, etc. It is much easier to control a staff by concentrating on the attributes that any good employee should have. Usually, habitual drug users will manifest behavior that can be “called out” without making the accusation of drug use. Concentrate on what the employee brings to the workplace, not what he does when he is not under your control at home.
Amen!!!!
If one’s gonna be Libertarian, one’s should be all in. Potheads can be potheads, and employers can be employers. I don’t even hire smokers; potheads aren’t even remotely considered. Saves me a ton of money…
Love it.I don’t rent to gays,anybody transgender OR with a pit bull.
Cats, man. When I had a few rental condos a while back, I never rented to people with cats. Cats are just nasty…
Well,Fuck You.That’s all gonna change,bitch.
♥✿✉⚓▼ 98$/hour@mk15
…..
http://www.AGlobalworkWorldSallu/hill/top...
http://www.mjinews.com/marijuana-workplace-drug-testing/
It is entirely possible that Colorado and Washington are responsible for all of the 0.2% gain in positive drug test nationwide.
“It is entirely possible that Colorado and Washington are responsible for all of the 0.2% gain in positive drug test nationwide.”
Somebody applied the facts and used a little analysis to shoot down your theory, Will.
Devastating
But they were not the first to use that methodology to do so. Hopefully this will be the “new normal”.
Quietus is en route to Charleston as we speak.
Have a good trip to the Holy City. Tell everyone Hi for me.
You’re seriously acting like Tango. We put the quietus on him and we’ll put it on you too if you don’t watch it.
I still think he must have tried slapping the P!$$ out of someone IRL and got arrested.
Or hospitalized.
Both?
Maybe our Liberal-Tarian god, Obama smote (smited?) his dumb@$$.
LMAO!!! LMAO!!!
“The power of Obama compels you!”
*shakes Holy Water on you from a vial*
I may have to retire Bible Thumper, but I’ll just come back as somebody else. Maybe “Crony Capitalist.”
Drugs on Baltimore streets could keep it high ‘for a year,’ Batts says
Baltimore Sun? – 8 hours ago
“It’s enough narcotics on the streets of Baltimore to keep it intoxicated … says drugs on city streets could keep it ‘intoxicated’ for a year. With April’s looting, an extraordinary amount of drugs werestolen from …
A PERFECT utopia for Democrat/socialists like Fits! LMAO!!
Did you…?
Did you kill Tango?
Nothing like that. He just spooked easily so some of us kept piling it on.
If you quieticized GT in a bad way, you must pay.
Pay me $30,000 and I’ll help you destroy the evidence, including the post above and responses to same.
I know people who know people.
Nothing like that. He just spooked easily so some of us kept piling it on.
LMAO!
And if it were not for no-income-tax-Texas, employment would have declined.
Who of us hasn’t had prescription opiates in our system? Why is that even listed?
Because it’s over-prescribed by “Doctor Feelgoods”, and sold by mail order and internet pushers.
Ha – a rap I made, that may apply:
The fracking pain clinics are legal dealers
Gotta pain in your back
they call themselves healers
slap a morphine patch
and a bottle of pills
charge the insurance companies
big dollar bills.
Injections….pills
Patches and cream
At first your in heaven
an opiates dream.
It goes on and on, needs some work, but you get the idea.
Well, if I am paying someone to do a job, they damn well better be 100% sober. Would you let a CPA do your taxes if he had weed in his system? Would you want someone cleaning your house if he had weed is his system? Would you want someone to be responsible for your children if he had weed in his system? Let’s face it what an employee does on his off time can affect his work.
Guess what….all of those professions you mention already have employees who get high and still get the job done. I get high all the time and earn 6 figures in the IT field. Luckily, I don’t have to submit to Gestapo piss tests but many are not as lucky. Most folks who toke are responsible enough not to get high at work but what we do in our off time is our business.
Not a real shocker that you “get high all the time,” but I think you’re smart enough to know (even if only intuitively) that there’s a well-documented spectrum of functionality attendant to heavy drug users (pretty consistent, as a matter of fact, from MJ all the way up to heroin and meth). In one of the skinny tails of that bell curve are folks like you claim to be – highly functioning drugs users, but they’re a small percentage. Most end up pissing their lives away in dead end jobs or screwing themselves up in myriad ways; how badly depends upon how far down that bell curve they slide. It doesn’t take a PhD to figure out that most heavy drug users don’t live in that few percentage points at the top of the food chain. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not not necessarily against legalization. Often times (even though I believe it would be really tough on a lot of folks and society in general) I feel like we should do the Will Folks and legalize every damn bit of it. Fuck the losers and let Darwinism roll.
I wouldn’t disagree that there are total losers who piss their lives away and end up costing us all money on account of their drug use.
However, let me be clear, I am specifically advocating for marijuana legalization as I feel it’s unjustly singled out in comparison to alcohol.
I could make the same argument about gun control. You get the hunters and collectors in a tizzy when you talk about all the crime and murder at the hands of firearms but they also use the “few bad apples” argument to stave off gun control. Same goes for pot.
Sorry, I took your “high” in the universal sense… ;-)
The marijuana / alcohol comparison is not a horrible analogy. Not perfect, but not horrible. The long-term effects of MJ are just now really getting a hard look, although there’s plenty of pretty bad info already out there in the med journals. You’ll get no full-throated defense of alcohol from me, though; I used to be a cop. Ask *any* cop what percentage of calls / problems are generated by drunks and they’ll tell that it’s a majority. Dope is a distant second. The gun analogy does kinda suck, though, because with dope it’s not a few bad apples. Dope use (especially if MJ gets legalized) will be *much* more widespread than the misuse of guns, but nowhere near as deadly (that’s another topic altogether). The best dope / gun analogy is actually the position that total prohibition of neither will work.
At any rate I would agree with you that splitting MJ off from the harder dope is the way to go for the legalization crowd, but it will still produce some entirely predictable, bad results. I say go for it, though. It’ll be fun to watch for the decade or so until that circus tent collapses on itself.
No. It won’t be ‘fun to watch for the decade or so until that circus tent collapse on itself.” Weed takes away the sense of ambition. It is a gateway drug. Haven’t you seen the guy at the front of the line in the convenience store asking for 1.25’s – He is young, pudgy and dumb-looking.
Precisely. Those clowns won’t be competing with my college-educated, articulate, hard-working, sober kids (I would say that the pothead crowd would be working for them, but handing them food at a quick serve restaurant would be much more likely). As I freely acknowledged, though, it’ll suck pretty hard for a lot of folks…
Actually, I know about six restaurant owners in this area who have smoked weed for decades, and still do. They do in in moderation. that really is possible. Their businesses and families don’t suffer for it at all. I know highly successful real estate agents in the area, as well, who still smoke it. Musicians and artists — well, it goes without saying. All my friends who have died of substance abuse died either from cigarettes, alcohol or hard drugs. You project what you have seen and heard about into being true for everyone. It isn’t. Not by a long shot.
I don’t smoke it here, because I made the choice not to break the law. But it’s a stupid fucking law to begin with, and I don’t by any means blame those who do break it.
You’re obviously a “true believer,” so good on ya. This is precisely the rabbit hole I said I wouldn’t get involved in, so I will not spend the next week trading links to research studies with you and Fatcunt (which we could actually do for a month or more). There’s plenty of good research on it, and it’s been around for a while. That’s not what the debate is about for folks who are emotionally vested (which I am not). Big whoop on your restaurant owners- for every high functioning regular user there are hundreds of regular users who have pissed their lives away. Because I am not morally or emotionally vested, though, I look at it purely as a social / economic / statistical issue. Widespread, regular pot use will be a loser for society in general. Most grownups know this. Even anecdotally, one quick glance at the legalization crowd should tell you this- the average meeting would be your six “restaurant owners” and 100 Jeff Spicolis.
You don’t be that guy. Read the research bro. There’s a growing body of evidence that suggests smoking weed (like once a day…and not smoking cigarettes) is cancer preventative. Did you even review the link I posted?
I did, amigo, but I had already seen it. I teach this crap, so I’ve done much research on it. The difference is (I believe) that I’m not emotionally invested in it, because it just so happens I have no desire to smoke or ingest weed. There’s some research that supports your position; much more that supports mine. We could trade links until September, but we’re both too busy for that.
Smoke weed once a day for a year,and you’re going to have bronchitis,and/or emphysema.I quit cigarettes and pot,way back,and I’m in better shape now than 40 fucking years ago.
Breathing is a really good thing.
“I’m not not necessarily against legalization. Often times (even though I believe it would be really tough on a lot of folks and society in general) I feel like we should do the Will Folks and legalize every damn bit of it. Fuck the losers and let Darwinism roll.”
.
Has anyone here ever read of the conditions in England when strong alcohol–gin–first became widely and inexpensively available? Some have even speculated that the population was then thinned of those genetically more susceptible to addiction.
Widespread weed use won’t kill America “Reefer Madness” style, but it won’t be a good thing either. We’ll probably find this out the hard way, as we do most things.
Yeah. So “all of those professions have employees who get high and still get the job done”. Maybe so, but are they getting the job done to the best of their ability?
So you are an IT guy – whoo hoo, BFD. It doesn’t take much to do that job. You basically sit at a desk all day and are a troubleshooter – not exactly a job which requires a quick and nimble brain.
Lol…I have a college degree, multiple professional certifications, 15 years in the field and I have never, ever had a negative performance review. In fact (not to toot my own horn too much here) but I outperform other members in my team across a range of metrics.
It’s folks like yourself who are ill informed or willfully ignorant as the case may be, who continually hold this state…and nation back. Other countries and even Colo. and Wash. have liberal drug policies that work and they are laughing all the way to the bank.
So what’s your take on booze? Do you want to outlaw that as well?
BFD – you have a college degree, certifications and 15 yrs experience. I have all that too, fyi. So I’m not impressed.
I am highly informed about weed and other drugs. Best wishes to you and your lifestyle of “getting high all the time”. At the very least, the toxins will give you cancer.
Lol…toxins…cancer. Again, ill informed or willfully ignorant.
Surely you don’t believe that smoking weed isn’t harmful to the lungs and brain? That science is as settled as the data on alcohol and tobacco.
Don’t take my word for it. Take the National Institute of Health’s word for it. Although I would recommend reading the whole extract…point 8 is of particular interest.
Instead of causing cancer….cannabis may actually inhibit cancer.
http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/patient/cannabis-pdq
Dude…don’t be that guy. Smoke all you want…I couldn’t care less, but don’t try to make the case that it’s good for you. That’s just nonsense. I’m not going down this rabbit hole with you, but you know that MJ smoke contains most of the same carcinogens found in tobacco smoke, and the deleterious effects are widely known and accepted in medical science. So it helps with the nausea associated with cancer, and may even treat certain illnesses. Okie dokie – for the vast majority of folks it’s bad news. It’s bad for the lungs; bad for the brain. Smoke on, amigo. You don’t have to rationalize to me; I already told you I don’t really care who smokes weed as long as the people I love know better (and they do).
Show me the data on lung cancer actually caused by smoking weed. So me the data refuting any and all health benefit claims. Show my any truly reputable study done in the last few years, not funded by either Big Phama or Big Booze, showing that pot is still The Devil’s Weed.
You can’t do that. It’s still the same goddamned propaganda it’s always been. Booze heads at the biggest problems. Booze heads who also do coke, tweek, smack, flacca, prescription drugs, or whatever, are incredibly fucked up human beings that nobody wants working for them, and most of us don’t even want to hang out with. That’s not your average pot smoker. Not by a long shot.
But those who condemn all pot smokers rarely separate them out from those who are fairly exclusive with the use of weed. Why not? Simple. Because when you do, it’s plain to see that the claims by them are bullshit.
By far, alcoholics are the biggest asshole in the world, and the ones who do most of the CDV, child abuse, rapes, incest, etc. I have cop friends who confirm that. Whatever else they do, booze was what first fucked up their brains. No matter what combination of other shit they are doing.
There’s the real gateway to Hell.
The way this “progressive” Fascist economy is going, no wonder folks are turning to drugs.
Time to re-read George Orwell (all over again).
I get drug tested every month. I think my employer should redirect the urinalysis money into my paycheck. I could buy so much weed with it!
If I gave you a job and you failed to do it because you were nailed, I’d probably give you one warning. If you failed to do it again, for whatever reason, your butt would be standing in the gimme line. On another matter – Is it just me, or are collegiate women softball players hot? Even the tunky ones are cute.. Ah hell, I’m just getting old. Never mind.
Fire they ass if they high at work. Otherwise, leave the the fuck alone, and stop wasting money on drug tests and shit.