Everyone who smokes should have a little (or a big) toke in memory of Jack Herer at 4:20 on Tuesday.

I'm all for decriminalizing and having the general population learn to use this substance in the same fashion as alcohol. But I do think an employer should have the right to fire you if you are high while on the job. I can think of quite a number of situations where I would not want to be dealing with or dependent on an employee whose judgment might be impaired by cannabis, especially with the strength of some of the strains out there.

R.I.P. Jack .. you really made a difference.

baloney joe:

This has nothing to do with using marijuana while working. Pot stays in your system a good two weeks on average.

Not all people are actually making the argument that one should have the right to be high while at work performing, just employers can can your ass if you test positive and you're a card holder.

Wonder if Jack will be cremated? That way he can get that last smoke in.

This ruling is problematic for the program, obviously.

I also think that the logical extension is that employers could also have a "no alcohol" policy. Hair testing for alcohol (currently used mostly for student-athletes and compliance testing) could be used to discharge an employee for their off-duty actions.

If someone shows up to work buzzed on any drugs (alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, et al.), they should be done. But, to the extent that the State of Oregon allows consumption of a product for medicinal purposes, non-work consumption and effect should not be a basis for termination.

The NY Times today has the latest update in the ever-intensifying psychopathic terrorism narco-traffickers have been inflicting on Juarez over the last 20+ years. One of the best things about medical marijuana is it siphons off at least that one portion of the river of money that might otherwise fund the violence and disorder in places like Juarez. I guess my point is that the legal questions around marijuana production, distribution and consumption are fully entwined with the nightmarish conditions of the factory towns that currently supply our demand.

If Pot were legal we could all stay stoned and ignore the orders from our Chinese masters.

It doesn't make sense to me that one should be fired for smoking pot at work. I currently don't smoke at all (as I have a job where I am tested), but I spent about 3 years smoking around 10 times a day. I worked thirty hours a week, took a full course load at Reed college while maintaining a 3.8 GPA--you're free to insert a "weed college" joke here, but the point is the school is, in fact, academically challenging--and had healthy relationships with friends and family.

While I understand that some people can't handle their pot like I can, the claim that "being high" at work should get you fired misses the point. Being INCOMPETENT at work should get you fired, regardless of whether you're drunk, stoned, or sober.

Certainly allowing this mentality could lead down a slippery slope to the suggestion that it is OK to drive drunk. That's perhaps a legitimate critique. But I think we could do a much better job as a society using the empirical information available to us to set rules about what actions are actually generally unsafe and which ones just don't cause any real problems.

i wish i could handle my pot like tom. lol.

Actually, most managers today would likely perform more effectively if they were stoned.

Just look at the Portland City Council, the PDC, Metro -

We'd probably be better off if we instituted a requirement that all office-holders smoke rope.

Certainly allowing this mentality could lead down a slippery slope to the suggestion that it is OK to drive drunk. That's perhaps a legitimate critique.

Or be stoned/drunk as a doctor, school bus driver, cop, etc.

But I think we could do a much better job as a society using the empirical information available to us to set rules about what actions are actually generally unsafe and which ones just don't cause any real problems.

Perhaps if we had a testing procedure for pot that could detect use more recent than a few weeks. Like a breathalyzer for alcohol. Not to mention much, much tighter rules for getting a medical pot card in the first place. I actually overheard a couple with a dinner party behind my wife and I at a restaurant recently discussing how easy it was to get a card from their doctor, and that they could easily help the others at the table get theirs if they were so inclined.
Not one person there discussed actually having a medical condition requiring the "prescription."

Apparently I can predict the future as an employer is looking to fire employees for personal, out-of-the-office consumption of an otherwise legal product: Link