Hey guys, I'm a student in the construction industry who strongly supports the legalization of recreational marijuana. I live in Michigan, where we are legalized for medical use, but when it comes to weed and the workplace there is a zero tolerance policy (especially in my industry). This is upsetting for me because I prefer smoke over alcohol, and in just less than a year I'm going to have to give it up for good if I want to keep my job. I've been following the movement very closely. As of now, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska are the four states that are legalized. My question is: How are these states adapting to the new laws when it comes to construction? My hope is that it will one day be acceptable, where I live, to go home and enjoy a couple hits with my wife and friends. I understand that the decision is inevitably up to the employer. Moving or finding another job is not an option! I simply want some statistics / personal experiences on where legalization stands in the construction industry in those four states, and also what I can expect in Michigan for the future. EDIT: The company currently enforces Random Hair Testing!! Fake pee or expensive shampoo is not the answer! The answer is social acceptance (or at least toleration) of this wonderful plant. I'm starting to think that I'm SOL.. I don't want to give it up and I don't want to lose my job, but I know that many people have gone through and will continue to go through the injustices of this senseless prohibition. Thank you.
It will never be excepted in the construction field. You get hurt. You get drug tested. Period. I do Scafold work. Everyone keeps clean pee in their lunch box
I have a friend in the medical field who works with drug testing. You should probably know that there is a temperature "window". If your urine isn't within the right temp, your results will be inconclusive. So unless it was heated to the right degree as it would be coming from inside your body, having clean urine won't help. They can also see if it's dog pee, etc. But back to the point, why would marijuana usage matter if it was legalized for recreational? Doing it on the job is one thing, but going home to do it is no different than having a couple glasses of wine (in my opinion). And what about non-labor positions such as superintendents, estimators & project managers? If society is slowly accepting rec marijuana, why is our field still being held in the prohibition-ways of the past?
why would marijuana use matter to the employer if it is used on the times other than what the employee works? The sucky ass part about piss tests is it isn't a measure of current influence but for prior month. I'd expect some older people, whom work within the construction industry, would want to use MMJ for body pain outside their scheduled time.
Yo brother if they fire you for using med. or recreational marajuana,they may as well fire everyone who uses recreational alcohol!!!!!!!! Major law suit . This is a socialist,capitalist country full of political alcoholics. Sent from my iPad using Grasscity Forum
You've made some very good points about using it in one's home, on your own time and not while on the job. To address your specific question - How are these states adapting to the new laws when it comes to construction? I think you will find employers that are having trouble hiring because of strict drug policies. There are a lot of low to mid skill jobs however where impairment at work is a huge liability, like anything that involves heavy equipment or much of anything industrial. For your average office job, where the worst that happens is somebody zones out in their cubicle watching youtube videos, there doesn't seem to be much downside. However, for anything more involved than that, not having a reasonably rigorous drug testing program is a huge liability to the company, because if the employee does something and comes back with a positive drug test, it makes the company look negligent for not testing.
Itll be allowed, just gonna take time for ppl to realize having a smoke after a stressful tough day is the same exact thing as pouring a glass of booze when one gets home Sent from my intergalactic spaceship