Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

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

Post by grammafreddy »

I think I am gonna stick with it is a big problem but the users and problem employees are so numerous that they don't wish to acknowledge it as a problem - because then they couldn't be users and abusers.

sweep-under-rug.jpg
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mitchbaywatch
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by mitchbaywatch »

thats cool you are entitled to your opinion, I just think that again there are bigger concerns than drugs at work.
but hey I work still and you I hope are enjoying your older years (sorry for the sarcasm thats just me) I really do hope you enjoy yourself. my opinion differs but that is what makes the world go round and gives us stuff to talk about! :spinball:
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grammafreddy
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by grammafreddy »

Thanks MBW. Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions.

Hope you survive work until your retirement years :D
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Smurf
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by Smurf »

You might have the right idea in some cases Gramma. I know when I was young a person who could drive plastered was almost a hero. I remember one young fellow who went off a country road and hit an approach to a field and totalled his dads car. When the mounties found him he was sitting on the edge of the road drinking from a case of beer that was in the trunk. As far as I know he never even lost his licence. Things have progressed on the alcohol front and they might with drugs also. I believe they all ready are because the states are building up statistics as are we apparently. In time things might look a lot different. Most of my years in the workforce no one was tested for drugs when there was an accident, even a death because I have been involved in investigations. So if they are now things are already changing.
Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have of changing others.

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

Post by fluffy »

Personally I think a lackadaisical attitude towards drug use in general is part of the problem, and unless I miss my guess most of it comes from regular users who carry the opinion that they are every bit as functional stoned as they are straight. Wrong of course, and no shortage of stats to prove that. Reaction time, cognitive ability, time perception, you name it. But only natural that users would want to downplay the downside.
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mitchbaywatch
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by mitchbaywatch »

I haven't heard from anyone here that says impairment at work is ok or you can function at the
same level as being not impaired. Maybe people are getting more used to recreational drugs ie pot, because
if you look around at all the other legal drugs that are all ok to use whether prescription or not. Just read
into a womans mag (my wife has them in the can) lots of adds for prescription drugs followed by pages of warnings.
I think more people see problems with these type of drugs than recreational drugs
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dirtybiker
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by dirtybiker »

Just read a study that showed sleep deprived people were
more likely to screw up 30% more than those impaired by alcohol.

They never included any other drug types in the study for obvious reasons.
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keith1612
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by keith1612 »

dirtybiker wrote:Just read a study that showed sleep deprived people were
more likely to screw up 30% more than those impaired by alcohol.

They never included any other drug types in the study for obvious reasons.


i think they try and hide those stats as it ruins the police and icbc's big showboat saying its the crime of the century.
get caught with a oz of weed and all of a sudden the police post " it could have gotten 20 school kids high"
ya i suppose or the guy carrying it for a month or two happily at home.
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fluffy
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by fluffy »

mitchbaywatch wrote:...if you look around at all the other legal drugs that are all ok to use whether prescription or not.


I think you're right in that we have become desensitized to the use of recreational drugs. A couple of tokes after work is seen as no worse than a couple of beers after work, a perfectly legal indulgence. There is little thought given to whether or not the whole concept of recreational mind altering is healthy. This hampers the ability to effectively assist that percentage of the public for whom substance use becomes substance abuse. The same goes for the job-site, a cry for individual rights to do what they like on their own time will lead to some over doing it to the point where they are a hazard to themselves and others the next day. Is there a point where a society accepts that a responsibility for the safety of its members might entail a restriction of everyone's rights in order to protect those who cannot protect themselves?
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mitchbaywatch
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by mitchbaywatch »

desensitized or come to realize that all these "bad" drugs are not as bad as all the propaganda has lead
us to believe in the past? again as compared to all other legal drugs or issues at the work place


"Is there a point where a society accepts that a responsibility for the safety of its members might entail a restriction of everyone's rights in order to protect those who cannot protect themselves?" quote

going back to the original question are drugs that much of a concern compared other things that we should restrict
people's rights. I don't see any evidence to say so! there will always be people that over do it the night before (not saying it
is right, I have many times when I was younger, hate when people do it now. But it is very low on my list of concerns)
As I watch people pop pills at the water cooler.
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fluffy
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by fluffy »

Just tossing stuff out there for discussion.

Not everybody who drinks and drives has an accident, the actual percentage is quite low, but we have laws restricting everybody from drinking and driving. How can that be right?

Being a skeptic at heart, I have to wonder about all the "propaganda" portraying recreational drugs as harmless. You'd have a tough time arguing that they don't hamper our performance to some degree. The idea that they've been around for ages doesn't mean much, so has tobacco.
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dirtybiker
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by dirtybiker »

What about the person that stays up all night instead of sleeping and then goes to work.
No sleep=impaired

Have a verbal fight with the spouse on the way out the door= impaired

Family member dies= impaired

break up or divorce= impaired
Some of these impairments could last for extended periods of time, and there
is not a test in the world that would detect it, yet on the job performance
could be severely hampered.
I hope this isn't considered off the topic, just an off-shoot branch
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mitchbaywatch
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by mitchbaywatch »

thats how I feel. what about all the concerns dirty listed amongst all the others out there?
drugs for sure fall in there just no where near the top in my mind.
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cliffy1
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by cliffy1 »

For me, recreational use of drugs isn't what they were meant to be used for. And abuse of drugs of any sort does have a detrimental effect on the user. Many drugs being used today were used for thousands of years to enlighten the mind and to generate a spiritual experience. The Vedas speak of a drug called Soma that was used for this purpose. The formula or combination of elements that made up Soma was guarded by the spiritual leaders but it got out into the general public for recreational use, so the formula was hidden and its use discontinued.

What the powers that be today do not want is for people to use drugs like pot, psilocybin, peyote and such because it allows people to question the sanity of a mindless consumer culture. Drugs like crack, opium and heroin dull the senses and do nothing to enlighten the user.
Trying to get spiritual nourishment from a two thousand year old book is like trying to suck milk from the breast of a woman who has been dead that long.
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fluffy
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Re: Drugs and the workplace, is it a concern?

Post by fluffy »

mitchbaywatch wrote:drugs for sure fall in there just no where near the top in my mind.


So what is your position regarding drugs in the workplace? A non-issue or cause for concern?
“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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