Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

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dirtybiker
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by dirtybiker »

Smurf wrote:Can you see the day in the future when you will have to show up with recent drug test results in your hand (at your cost) for a job interview. Just look back a couple of decades at what has happened to smoking and drinking and driving. It could very well happen.


To some extent that is allready the way it is.
The only difference is the prospective employer, through
lack of trust requires all applicants to get testing done at a
facility of their choosing, hence, their cost.

Nobody in their right mind would even bother applying if they didn't
first make sure they were "clean."

That's the reasoning IMO behind random testing and testing at start of on-cycle times.

Just because you cleaned yourself up to get the job, doesn't mean you
will remain that way.
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Smurf
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by Smurf »

For sure but you also have to remember that it is very hard I understand it for a person using MJ to show uo clean unless they stop using for a month or more before. How many regular users do that. They would be forced to if it became common.

I can see what you are saying about then wanting to follow up. I can agree with that if they think someone has a problem. If they keep getting refused the right to do it they will just make it a part of employment that you have to be tested 4 times a year to continue employment. Then a person would be forced to be straight at least some of the time. I remember having to turn my drivers licence in every year to be able to drive a company vehicle. Even then people lost their licence during the year and continued to drive till it came time to prove they had a licence. The funniest part was when two of the supervisors who checked licences were caught without their own. Even stupider because they just forgot to renew them.
Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have of changing others.

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keith1612
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by keith1612 »

i fully agree there is no excuse for alcohol or drugs in the workplace.
its time we started changing it the correct way, at the top and work down.
there is no excuse for taxpayers to be buying MLA's booze at work.
is it any better to have a half cut premier of BC giggling as she waves our credit cards around and making huge deals?
no start at the top and lead by example.
if top government officials can go to work and get free booze then why whine about stoned dishwashers.
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fluffy
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by fluffy »

keith1612 wrote:i fully agree there is no excuse for alcohol or drugs in the workplace.
its time we started changing it the correct way, at the top and work down.


If the focus is safety then it would make sense to start with the jobs where the worker is at highest risk, wouldn't it?
“We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective.” – Kurt Vonnegut
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mitchbaywatch
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by mitchbaywatch »

I think keith is saying lets have everyone on the same playing field if you want to drug test an oil patch worker fine,
but should the people above not be tested to (lead by example), I have a relative who works in the oil field as an
engineer, shouldn't he be tested too? They design and come up with plans, if they are impaired during this process
wouldn't this out the patch guys at risk?
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mitchbaywatch
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by mitchbaywatch »

all this about how sad it is that a person can't make a shift without smoking up or whatever, but some
of his or her co-workers can drink all the caffiene or smoke a pack of smokes and that is ok, or the person who stuffs
their face with crap all day and weighs 300 is ok?
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Smurf
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by Smurf »

No it does not make it okay. No one has said it does but that is not what we are discussing here.
Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have of changing others.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the most of everything that comes their way.
keith1612
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by keith1612 »

-fluffy- wrote:
If the focus is safety then it would make sense to start with the jobs where the worker is at highest risk, wouldn't it?


who decides what degree of safety deems the highest risk?
wouldnt people in power and control of our country be deemed at a high risk?
government workers with all our private information etc.
i think its time we had laws that applied to all.
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mitchbaywatch
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by mitchbaywatch »

What are we talking about here? Title says "Drugs and the workplace, is it a concren?"
Or should the title read "Illegal drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?"
Ok take away the person that stuffs his face. Last I checked Nicotine and Caffeine were drugs???
Sorry to hear other peoples take on drugs fall on deaf ears, as it appears only illegal drugs are a concern!
Being new here I guess I should have known subliminally what the true topic was when I read the OP name. Being a long time reader here I know your stance on "illegal drugs" Sorry to barge in on the party!!!
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fluffy
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by fluffy »

I guess it depends where your priorities are. If the aim is to improve safety in the workplace then it only makes sense to start in the places where safety is of highest concern, that being where there is the most danger to life and limb. If your priority is to make a political statement then it would make sense to go for high public profile jobs. It just depends what your motivation is.
“We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective.” – Kurt Vonnegut
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Fixer 166
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

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Smurf
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by Smurf »

Mitch I think if you read back I have said I disagree with any drug that impairs you, legal or illegal as have others. Nothing to do with legality.

I agree with Fluffy in that I am going back to what I had experience with. I was never worried about a supervisor who was hung over or possibly high (I definately thought it was wrong because as a union rep. I could be arguing with the same supervisor about someones job) because he was never touching tools or equipment. I was/am interested in saving life and limb and working on dangerous equipment, live electricity or whatever with someone drunk, hungover or high was not good for your health. I want to see everyone go home at the end ot the day with all their limbs. I am not worried about a supervisor or manager in an office high on coffee or nicotine. Actually although I saw lots of it I never saw a fellow worker who used lots of tobacco or drank lots of coffee whose actions in any way made me think they were dangerous.

I do agree to be fair we should be testing everyone at every workplace but I was thinking more about saving lives than whether or not Bob in accounting screws up some figures. Bob should not be screwing up his job either but at least he won't kill someone. A good example would be a crane operator who for somwe reason has been prescribed drugs that impair his ability to work properly. I would not want him on the crane but I would have no problem with him moving to stores to count stock. He might even have if a permanent move if his condition waranted it. I actually did complain once about a supervisor who came in hung over and was sleeping in his office. The site superintendent sent him home for the rest of the day. Was I popular, no, but I never considered work a popularity contest. How could I when I was involved in union and safety. Both very unpopular.

I do agree that 100% that mind altering drug use or impairement (hangover etc.) should not be tolerated in any workplace.
Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have of changing others.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the most of everything that comes their way.
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zzontar
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by zzontar »

Smurf wrote: Actually although I saw lots of it I never saw a fellow worker who used lots of tobacco or drank lots of coffee whose actions in any way made me think they were dangerous.


Should there be testing to make sure these people get their coffee and smokes? If you've ever worked with an addict who hasn't had their coffee and smokes, you know it's a different scenario.

I do agree that 100% that mind altering drug use or impairement (hangover etc.) should not be tolerated in any workplace.


It's a given that a great number of people are going to do a recreational drug regardless. To avoid losing their jobs, there will be people that smoked pot in the evenings to relax who will then choose drinking and harder drugs. I don't think people should be impaired at work either, but it's too bad the person who puffs in the evening and goes to work well rested will lose his job whereas the guy who gets juiced at the bar the night before and comes in hungover will most likely still have his. Don't wish for testing too much, you might just get it.

I've mentioned before that there should be a test for actual impairment on the workplace as well as with driving, but because there are people who shouldn't be using heavy equipment or driving even when sober, this probably won't happen. Most people are far more accepting of a horrible sober driver killing someone than someone who's over the limit, and even if both are equally dangerous, one will get way more attention than the other. Someone who crushes another person with a vehicle at the workplace or on the road because they're a horrible driver will be penalized much less than the same incident happening with someone who had a few drinks, because people think that you have the choice not to drink first, but don't have the choice to take driving lessons, and don't have the choice to demand a road test that's even enough that people like those on "Canada's Worst Driver" would never pass.
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Pookybear
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by Pookybear »

mitchbaywatch wrote:all this about how sad it is that a person can't make a shift without smoking up or whatever, but some
of his or her co-workers can drink all the caffiene or smoke a pack of smokes and that is ok, or the person who stuffs
their face with crap all day and weighs 300 is ok?

And this is why I don't think pot should become legal. Potheads for whatever think it is okay to use whenever and wherever they want and doing whatever they want. Please explain how eating to much or drinking to much coffee has anything to do with showing up at work on a mind altering drug. If pot doesn't change you why would you spend money on it? If you can't get through a job without being stoned then it's sad to be you. I don't care what kind of job it is, it shows a lack of work ethic and a sign of addiction. I guess that is why they call it dope, you are what you do.
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zzontar
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by zzontar »

Pookybear wrote: If pot doesn't change you why would you spend money on it? If you can't get through a job without being stoned then it's sad to be you. I don't care what kind of job it is, it shows a lack of work ethic and a sign of addiction. I guess that is why they call it dope, you are what you do.


Nicotine is considered to be the most addictive drug and coffee is more addictive than pot, are you saying people who are addicted to either shouldn't be working because they're addicts and might be dangerous on the job if they don't get their "fix?"
They say you can't believe everything they say.
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