Random drug testing

The only drug test I've taken was for a new life insurance policy. I quit pot for 25 days which isn't always quite long enough. I drank lots of water. The results? Negative for tobacco, cocaine and STD's. THEY DIDN"T TEST FOR POT! All that abstinence for nothing; what a waste. I guess pot smokers live longer?

I think drug testing should be illegal, and I am no drug user (not even caffeine!)

If someone is acting unusual, then test them (proper concern) or fire them.

But don't put me through the wringer for someone else's fuck up.

Since pot is now legal in some states how do employers handle stoned on the job accidents. Does workman's comp cover them? I know the companies I have worked for require drug tests as a condition of employment and random test there after in order to maintain your insurance coverage. If am employee has alcohol or any drug he/she does not have a prescription for they are immediately supposed to be suspended pending review and dismissal. Booze flushes out of your system in 24 hours but pot hangs around for weeks. What are companies going to do in states where pot is legal. Will there be lawsuits to force the hiring of stoners to stop discrimination against pot heads?? Can you imagine the spike in industrial accidents with stoners working.... a wasted guy standing there looking at his own severed finger saying "wow man look at that... got any Doritos?"

In some states you can be arrested for smoking cigarettes but not pot WTF??

I have never been tested for drugs. I occasionally smoke weed with a stripper, but that's the extent of my illegal drug use.

I am against drug testing. It infringes on people's rights, and it serves no useful purpose. The war on drugs was conceived in a time of hysteria about the evils of all drug use. The war has cost billions of dollars and filled up our prisons with non-violent offenders, but people still use drugs.

Alcohol is legal, can't be drunk on the job, Same goes with pot. truck drivers get random drug testing all the time. And of course, during an accident no matter whose fault. If a guy caused an accident where a death occured while drunk or high, the company would be ruined. Office workers? I guess if they injured themselves, they would get drug tested too. HR Departments have been making companies cover their asses more and more,

We already have laws against impaired driving, reckless endangerment, etc. We don't need any drug laws at all as all the negative consequences of drug use are already covered by existing laws. Of course, the illegality of some drugs makes a cottage industry for both organized crime, the DEA, the prison system, drug testing companies, etc. The economy might suffer if all drugs were legal because lots of people would lose their jobs.

Well, the laws are for after the fact. And companies do get sued.

We have random drug testing and used to have mandatory once a year. Ownership claims it's due to the industry we service but I personally believe that it's due to their own personal feelings on the subject.

It's an annoyance and I occasionally miss drugs, mainly pot. I've slipped up a few times and taken a hit or two in the right circumstances but I try not to push my luck.

Never been tested before. But I just started smoking pot with the DS, so with my luck that probably means that mandatory testing is right around the corner.

mikeya02 said, "Alcohol is legal, can't be drunk on the job, Same goes with pot."

But it's not the same with pot. First of all, even if pot is now legal at the state level in some states, it's still illegal everywhere in the US at the federal level.

Beyond that, according to this article: money.cnn.com, only Arizona and Delaware have laws on the books protecting workers from being fired for failing a drug test.

Everything I've read suggests that, in general, employers can still fire you for smoking pot even if it's legal (at the state level) and even though you're not high at work.

Around here you often have to pass a drug test between accepting an offer and your official start date. After that the only way "random" testing would happen is with reasonable suspicion.

To pass a possibility test for pot you basically need to be clean for 3 days. No one pays to have hair follicles analyzed by mass spec.

The fact is, if what you do on your spare time doesn't affect your job, who cares? If it does, it's easier to just eliminate the position for made up reasons than face a potential wrongful termination suit.

I compare it to booze. If you're coming to work drunk, that's a problem. If you're pounding a case every weekend? Not my problem until you start showing up late and hung over monday.

@mikeya02 - if a truck driver is in an accident, whether it's his fault or not, and a vehicle has to be towed, the driver has to be drug tested within 24 hours. Also, some trucking companies test clean drivers over and over again so they don't have too test the ones they know do drugs. The government shit you have to go through for hazmat is a pain in the ass too.

My company went completely tobacco free and has zero tolerance for drugs. I believe you will get tested if involved in any accident on or off the job or if you act weird. I've never been asked to get tested since I started. It would be a waste of money since I never used anything. I do worry about what could be in second hand smoke if someone was smoking something illegal in a bar or club. Actually I do not care for any smoke but I still want to visit bars and clubs. If I want to experience a high, I can get it naturally by exercising heavy for an hour or longer. no worry about illegal drugs that way. I'd probably lose weight too.

I don't have to do random drug tests, but I signed an oath with Uncle Sam when I got hired that I wouldn't do fun things like smoke pot or do coke off stripper's asses, so I don't. Sigh. I can't wait until retirement, whenever the hell that will be :(

sc,

Can't remember all the tests I've had, many for government clearance. The last two were after a traffic accident in my company vehicle. Both times, I was stopped and got hit in the back and I still had to take the test. Doesn't bother me.

One I took for the DoD. I was called in right after lunch. I asked the woman if they tested for beer. She thought it quite funny. During the interview I was even asked about strip clubs. I wondered at the time if they already knew I went to them or not. I said I did, but asked why it mattered. They were concerned I could be compromised. I would have been if the Chinese needed some secret!

I live in a state where pot will be legal as of July 1st. From the court cases I've seen in nearby Washington, employees who've been fired for "locally legal" pot use have lost every unlawful dismissal case that's been brought before a circuit judge. Attempts to appeal the decision have been refused in every instance as well.

Depending on your level of use, it takes 8-12 weeks for THC and the other cannabinoids that are screened by gas chromatography tests to leech out of your myelin. (That's the fatty that surrounds your nerves and the white matter in your brain). If you have a job where that's an issue, you're an idiot for even thinking about using pot. I personally wouldn't care about the pot, but I would care about an employee who is an idiot.

The drug tests shadowcat refers to are actually DOT mandated.(FAA falls under DOT umbrella.) From ~1991-1993, the random drug testing rate was 50% of covered employees. (i.e., if company had 100 employees of a particular craft and class, then 50 random drug tests would have to be administered to employees of that particular craft and class in a calendar year.) Later, that rate was dropped to 25%. Additionally, a 10% random alcohol testing rate was mandated for covered employees. It is possible that some individuals could be required to "piss and blow" in one visit.

Sex works wonders on me. Zero interest in chemical mood alterants.

For myself, I would not want to build up any sort of a work force unless I knew the people personally, and this means knowing their habits and tendencies.

The other way is what I call, "Federal Express Drivers". I don't want to be dealing with such people and I would never want them representing any company I was responsible for, let alone driving it's vehicles on the roads.

SJG