Originally posted by: BoomerD
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: Sinsear
Regardless of who is raising their hand, or who is supporting this, or if it's up to the states or the federal government, let's assume for a few minutes marijuana was made legal. What if anything would/should we do about people driving under the influence of marijuana, or using heavy machinery, or being a police officer, firefighter, you get my point. Should we have laws regarding this? Continue mandatory drug testing and zero tolerance policies for certain jobs or no?
I'm don't really have a care one way or the other except that drug users/dealers kind of keep me in business at my new job, but I was also young and in HS/college once and dabbled in a few things here and there

.
The problem with drug testing is that it doesn't show that you are high right now, it shows that you used drugs at a previous point in the past. Nobody should care if I was drunk last Saturday in the comfort of my own home. Why should anyone care if I was high on Sunday in the comfort of my home as well?
If there's not a test to show someone is actually high while driving or on duty then they need to develop one or they really have no case. It's a poor rationale to keep mj illegal just because they can't test whether or not someone is high. imo, there's allegedly no such test because they don't want to crack that door open. It's always amazing what they can come up when necessity is the mother of the invention though.
Holy crap...first Palehorse, then one of the other conservative posters, now I'm in full agreement with TLC? WTF is going on? Is this the apocalypse? I know the x-tian bible talks about the last days, when the lion lays with the lamb or some such shit...but for me to agree with these guys?:shocked:
TLC's point is one I've made for years. I'm all in favor of legalizing marijuana, taxing the hell out of it, and sellng it in venues like liquor stores, BUT, there needs to be an accurate way to discriminate between the joint someone smoked last weekend, while on his own time, and the joint he smoked 30 minutes ago on his way to work as a truck driver. Smoke and drive? Go to jail, just like you would for drinking.
Yes, certain "safety-sensitive" jobs will still retain a ban on use of marijuana, but again, there needs to be more accurate testing done. I shouldn't be fired because I smoked myself into oblivion 2 weeks ago while on vacation up in Vancouver B.C. (I hear great things about their "BC Bud!) but, I certainly don't see anything wrong with a person being fired for coming to work stoned...
I worked heavy construction for 30 years, and maritime construction for much of that. Working on navigable waterways, we were subject to the USCG's much more strict drug testing regulations. Lots of jobs have a relatively high cut-off point, below which you're considered a negative (passing) test. The USCG's test has a MUCH lower cut-off point, to the point where ANY residual cannabinols in the test will be a fail.
Hell, if we'd legalize pot, regulate and tax it, we could eliminate the national debt pretty quickly, PLUS, by legalizing it, we'd take most of the money out of illegal sales of it, eliminate much of the police action involved in enforcing marijuana laws, and remove many people from jail/prison.