Dope...

[MrLongbeard]

What Mr.D said, y'all need a better class of friends / associates.

[KungFooBob]

I don't know how I'd face the depressing dystopian society we live in today without the crutch of Jack Daniels.

[Horse]

But of folk in my peer group thatve died before their time, booze has been the biggest factor. .

I'm at the age where where we've lost a few . Two have survived heart attacks, both smokers.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Yes, we used to do random testing and for cause, if there was an accident of some description. The union guys were all for it and the company spent a fortune on training programs and test equipment. We were making compounds that in their intermediate stages would wipe out a small town. We also had some staff thank us for setting it up as it helped them with their kids, as in scaring the shit out of them (pardon the pun) .

We do random testing and have sacked people for testing positive, everyone gets tested, regardless of role, not just those driving cranes, trains, forks and lorrys, everyone gets sacked if they test positive - it's the same rule for everyone. I suspect work also reports them to the police, it's the sort of thing the company I work for would do.

You work for a pretty mediaeval company, is all I'd say. Performance reviews take care of an individual's in-work performance relative to their peers and if someone was turning up to work the worse for wear or stoned/high then obviously they're out the door and their feet don't touch the ground. But smoking weed/dope/ganja/cannabis/herb in a recreational setting where it absolutely doesn't impinge on their in-work performance is an individual choice and should not be subject to the kind of heavy-handed attitudes your employers so proudly display.

A high-functioning alcoholic can work undetected for years/decades as long as they don't turn up to work shitfaced. Somebody having an innocent toke round a mate's house can have their career derailed for one momentary indiscretion, and their in-work performance won't have suffered one iota.

Alcohol is the management's drug of choiice and so its use is legitimised. It also gets flushed comparatively quickly from the body, so doesn't show up in next day testing. Marijuana hangs around for ages and so is a convenient target for companies wishing to show they are on top of this evil drug 'problem'.

People are told the rules before they start, if you don't like it, don't work here, it's a dangerous place to work, personally I'd rather not have my safety dependant on someone who takes illegal substances, we also have a zero tolerance to alcohol at work, random tests and if you're suspected as being drunk at work it's breath test and sack if you test positive.

It's got feck all to do with whether or not you can do your job, and everything to do with safety.

[mangocrazy]

People are told the rules before they start, if you don't like it, don't work here, it's a dangerous place to work, personally I'd rather not have my safety dependant on someone who takes illegal substances, we also have a zero tolerance to alcohol at work, random tests and if you're suspected as being drunk at work it's breath test and sack if you test positive.

It's got feck all to do with whether or not you can do your job, and everything to do with safety.

Their company, their rules. If you don't like it, don't work there. But you're missing the point that someone can be totally compos mentis when they turn up for work, but if they get random drug tested and a marker for cannabis shows up from usage in the employee's own time, they get fired. This wouldn't happen for alcohol, as it clears the system comparatively quickly. So alcohol usage in an employee's own time is OK, but cannabis use is penalised and there has been absolutely no impact on the individual's work performance in either case.

So 'safety' is basically a smokescreen.

[DefTrap]

[, but if they get random drug tested and a marker for cannabis shows up from usage in the employee's own time, they get fired.

What they need to do is come up with a test to see if you've had a drink in the last week, same as weed. Make it fair.

I think folk would object, but on what grounds.?

My mate who works in construction (on the pm side rather than physical graft) I believe is subject to the same rules regarding booze and drugs as his blue collar colleagues. You'd think that was unfair too - telling people off and holding a clipboard whilst half cut is hardly the same as sozzled in charge of a bulldozer.

[Horse]

It's got feck all to do with whether or not you can do your job, and everything to do with safety.

But you're missing the point that someone can be totally compos mentis when they turn up for work, but if they get random drug tested and a marker for cannabis shows up from usage in the employee's own time, they get fired. This wouldn't happen for alcohol, as it clears the system comparatively quickly. So alcohol usage in an employee's own time is OK, but cannabis use is penalised and there has been absolutely no impact on the individual's work performance in either case.

So 'safety' is basically a smokescreen.

Which is why (so I was told) cocaine was preferred drug for roadworks people, because it clears quickly from the body.

But this is hardly a secret. If someone is daft enough to run the risk after smoking dope, well perhaps they're too daft to work in a high risk environment?

[mangocrazy]

Which is why (so I was told) cocaine was preferred drug for roadworks people, because it clears quickly from the body.

But this is hardly a secret. If someone is daft enough to run the risk after smoking dope, well perhaps they're too daft to work in a high risk environment?

I'm not sure 'high risk' even enters into it. If you turn up for work incapacitated due to drink or drugs, you're an idiot and deserve everything you get. It's what you do in your own free time that's the issue. Anyone using cannabis needs to understand that they are liable to test positive for the drug even if they used it days or weeks ago. That's the reality. It isn't 'fair', but then neither is life.

A fairer test would be one that measures impairment of functions due to a drug (any drug), rather than resting for residues in the body.

[Mussels]

That certainly seems like an age / generational thing cause it doesn't really happen to me...maybe a raised eyebrow but certainly no pressure. The kids at work don't drink at all

It might be a woman thing, my wife gets it from a few of her friends but the only person who didn't like me being sober in the pub after work was a female colleague.

[Felix]

If someone is daft enough to run the risk after smoking dope, well perhaps they're too daft to work in a high risk environment?

I know a guy who smokes dope and worked for Boeing in Seattle. Past tense but he left for another job. They get tested regular but also get tipped the nod and can buy piss kits easily and quickly enough.

[Noggin]

Yeah I totally get that. My missus became virtually teetotal a few years back (for unrelated health reasons) and it does make some social situations awkward because in so many of them booze plays a big part. Boozy situations can get boring reasonably quickly if you're on the fizzy pop. And yes, she is made to feel like a party pooper sometimes, even if unintentionally.

In general I’m ok around boozy folks but it really depends on the situation. An après bar with good mates is fine, I do all the daft stuff sober. But a normal bar full of fuckwits that can’t stand up (rather than party minded mates) is not fun

I’m less open to being in a packed bar full of fuckeits nowadays as they fall into people a lot and when that people is me, it’s often hurts my arm. So I tend to bail

That certainly seems like an age / generational thing cause it doesn't really happen to me...maybe a raised eyebrow but certainly no pressure. The kids at work don't drink at all

You calling me old it definitely happens less now. But back when there was a seasonnaire bar I liked up here, it was youngsters that totally didn’t get that I could have fun sober - mostly because they needed to be shitfaced to do the stupid shit everyone else was doing!!

And the last time it happened I just pointed out the pressure to take drugs angle and decided not to socialise with that person in future (not the first time she’s done it!

What Mr.D said, y'all need a better class of friends / associates.

Definitely needed a better class of friends! Although the French don’t generally comment on my choice. There’s sometimes an “oh, ok” and maybe a raised eyebrow, but no hassle or bullying. And the French bars in general don’t have people falling over so it feels much more comfortable

That certainly seems like an age / generational thing cause it doesn't really happen to me...maybe a raised eyebrow but certainly no pressure. The kids at work don't drink at all

It might be a woman thing, my wife gets it from a few of her friends but the only person who didn't like me being sober in the pub after work was a female colleague.

In general, for me, not a woman thing as most of my mates have been guys. It was always pretty even across both guys and girls being annoyed that I wouldn’t drink. Out here, it was always the younger seasonnaies that didn’t get it. But I ended up saying I was driving at 5am the next day (even if I wasn’t) and in the end they learnt that I was almost as daft as them even on lemonade!!

The one that hassled me last year was a woman and she’s never understood my non drinking. But I suspect she has an issue with her drinking so . . . .


Nowadays my friends up here just know that either I’ll drink or not and if I say no I mean it. So it’s much less of an issue now.


Part of my anti drinking came from working in pubs since is was 16. When you have to deal with letcherous drunk areaholes from a young age, you either join in to avoid thinking about it or avoid drinking so you aren’t like them!!!

[Taipan]

I get some jobs you need to not be stoned, whizzing or sober for, but office stuff?! London pubs are full of office workers at lunchtimes, especially paydays and fridays and people turn up with hangovers after midweek xmas parties etc.

[Horse]

But this is hardly a secret. If someone is daft enough to run the risk after smoking dope, well perhaps they're too daft to work in a high risk environment?

I'm not sure 'high risk' even enters into it. If you turn up for work incapacitated due to drink or drugs, you're an idiot and deserve everything you get. It's what you do in your own free time that's the issue. Anyone using cannabis needs to understand that they are liable to test positive for the drug even if they used it days or weeks ago. That's the reality. It isn't 'fair', but then neither is life.

A fairer test would be one that measures impairment of functions due to a drug (any drug), rather than resting for residues in the body.

Fair? There's another aspect that someone who is willing to break some laws might have a cavalier attitude in other aspects.

But never mind the D&A, these were people working long overnight shifts. Fatigue is a big concern too.

[mangocrazy]

But this is hardly a secret. If someone is daft enough to run the risk after smoking dope, well perhaps they're too daft to work in a high risk environment?

I'm not sure 'high risk' even enters into it. If you turn up for work incapacitated due to drink or drugs, you're an idiot and deserve everything you get. It's what you do in your own free time that's the issue. Anyone using cannabis needs to understand that they are liable to test positive for the drug even if they used it days or weeks ago. That's the reality. It isn't 'fair', but then neither is life.

A fairer test would be one that measures impairment of functions due to a drug (any drug), rather than resting for residues in the body.

Fair? There's another aspect that someone who is willing to break some laws might have a cavalier attitude in other aspects.

But never mind the D&A, these were people working long overnight shifts. Fatigue is a big concern too.

I'm not aware of which real-life example you're referring to here. My comments were in response to Cheesy's experience at one of his places of work.

I'm well aware of how fatigue affects people. For approximately ten years in my twenties and early thirties I was working 12 hour overnight shifts in a computer centre, several of those years as shift leader with responsibility for all aspects of the site, including security. So yes, I understand how fatigue affects people's judgement. Fatigue plus drugs/alcohol is a truly toxic combination.