Drug Testing in the Workplace

[CarlosHoney]

:bbmrgreen: What do you think?

I think that it infringes on my privacy. If I'm effed up at work and chop my arm off, it should be pretty obvious. I think that what someone does in their home, as long as they don't hurt anyone else, is their business.

[mariaandmanish]

I think that if it is infringing upon their work, then drug testing is a good thing. If there's no reason to suspect anything, then it's a violation of privacy.

[LaceyinPgh]

I am required to get a state criminal background check and a state child abuse history clearance EVERY year. Also, in my contract for both the school district and the state, they can drug test me randomly. I work with kids every day. I don't have a problem with it. I am well out of that stage of my life. If I were still in it, I would know that I should probably find a different line of work.

[countrygirl]

This is another touchy one for me. My son's father has a drug prob, and used to be a surgical tech. It wasnt uncommon for him to smoke a joint before he went to work. Do you want someone like that working on your body? Or how about someone doing a line before they work on you? I am very against drugs, and while it IS up to them what they do on thier off time, I certainly do not want to have someone who is high working on me, for me, or around me. You can't trust what they do or say, and anyone who says that they are under control while under the influence just hasn't had to opp to mess up that badly, YET!!

[Kacie_bride]

Defiantely drug testing should be allowed. I, for one, do not want anybody teaching my future children who smoked a joint or snorted a line before class or the week before. I just don't believe that kind of person is suited to be around children. I know about drugs. I have had experience with being around people on drugs. It is so far from the road I would want to be on or have my kids around. If I found out a teacher of my kids was a drug user I would pull them out of their class so fast it would make heads spin.

I also do not want anyone working on me who is a drug user, my animal, my car, or anything.

I'm not saying somone who has done drugs in their past should be outcasted. In fact they can go on to do whatever, as long as they clean up.

[countrygirl]

I'm not saying somone who has done drugs in their past should be outcasted. In fact they can go on to do whatever, as long as they clean up.

I agree with you there Kacie.

[MOB Karen]

This is another touchy one for me. My son's father has a drug prob, and used to be a surgical tech. It wasnt uncommon for him to smoke a joint before he went to work. Do you want someone like that working on your body? Or how about someone doing a line before they work on you? I am very against drugs, and while it IS up to them what they do on thier off time, I certainly do not want to have someone who is high working on me, for me, or around me. You can't trust what they do or say, and anyone who says that they are under control while under the influence just hasn't had to opp to mess up that badly, YET!!

We definitely get drug tested at my hospital, and rightfully so, in my opinion.

[countrygirl]

My son learned about drugs in kinder last year, and I thank God that he did. He knows that his father does them. I never told him the reason that he didn't see his dad, only that the judge told him he had to take a test, and he hasn't done it. When he learned about it in school, I took that as an opp to tell him the truth. He HAS to know what they are, and how they change your life, and that it is not acceptable. This is something that he will (hopefully) take with him for the rest of his life.

[CarlosHoney]

Yeah, I don't think anyone should be working with kids or in the medical industry while on drugs.. But I've known a lot of Doctors/Nurses with a drug problem. They're around it all the time!!

[ladymelissa]

I am on the fence here. While no one should be intoxicated on the job, regardless of what they are doing, as far as I know we don't really have good enough tests to determine if they were high on the job. Someone could smoke a joint in their home a month ago and they would test positive. The really hard stuff like cocaine, which really melts your brain, passes out of your system within 24 hours.

[CarlosHoney]

Yeah, I think that's unfair.. Pot is benign. Coke isn't. Pot pops positive 3 or more weeks later.. Coke doesn't.. :bbconfused:

[countrygirl]

Yeah, it is a bad thing that pot sticks around so long. Someone could actully stop for good, and then have to wait a month or so. But then again, when I was working for the casinos in Nevada, they would take hair samples or finger nail sample (if the hair was bleached) and could acutallyd ate back as far as seven years. If someone actually quit thta long ago, they could still show up poss.

[ladymelissa]

Yeah, it is a bad thing that pot sticks around so long. Someone could actully stop for good, and then have to wait a month or so. But then again, when I was working for the casinos in Nevada, they would take hair samples or finger nail sample (if the hair was bleached) and could acutallyd ate back as far as seven years. If someone actually quit thta long ago, they could still show up poss.
I am totally against the hair tests! That is way too much, esp. to serve drinks in sin city!

[CindySue]

I with Melissa, I too am on the fence. What someone does in the privacy of their own home or on their free time is their business, but when they show up for work high, that crosses over into the "hurting other people" part.

[countrygirl]

I am totally against the hair tests! That is way too much, esp. to serve drinks in sin city!

Well, I didn't work in Vegas, it was Tahoe. But I didnt have a prob w them testing me. I don't do drugs. Never have, never will. I think the reason that they do it is because it is a federal state, and because the federal law prohibits it so much, the state has to do it. I can tell you that the most drugs I have ever seen was in that **** town.

[WebLady]

I am on the fence here. While no one should be intoxicated on the job, regardless of what they are doing, as far as I know we don't really have good enough tests to determine if they were high on the job. Someone could smoke a joint in their home a month ago and they would test positive. The really hard stuff like cocaine, which really melts your brain, passes out of your system within 24 hours.
I too have sort of mixed feelings on this issue. While I think that no one should be intoxicated while on the job, but what ones does on their own time shouldn't affect their job. However, it may have some adverse affects on how people view your character ... like with hard drug use.

However, if you know going in to a situation that you have to be clean then you can choose whether or not to take the job and put yourself at risk of loosing that job in the future.

A friend of my sister's (that also worked with her) got fired a few months back for testing positive for coke in a random drug test.

[LaceyinPgh]

The thing is this. If you aren't using them, you have nothing to worry about. We can all say how it is our body and our choice. But, we are still a society of laws whether you like them or not. Still there are laws against the drugs that are being tested for. So, you shouldn't be using them anyway. Even if we don't agree with the law, e are still stuck biding by it. Supposidly these laws are in place because they protect us. So, if you are are doing something illegal, your boss (who depending on your job is well within his rights) tests you, and then fires you because the test came back positive, now whose fault is that? You shouldn't have been doing it in the first place.

[ladymelissa]

Lacey- I see your point and for the most part I agree with you.

1. I just don't think that they are not set up to catch the worst offenders.

2. There is little or no testing for alcohol and I have heard stories from friends that they had some teachers who would spike their coffee with alcohol while in school (maybe the system has changed as we have all been out of school for awhile).

3. Some of the drug laws should be changed IMO (but that was addressed in another thread).

[LaceyinPgh]

Lacey- I see your point and for the most part I agree with you.

1. I just don't think that they are not set up to catch the worst offenders.

2. There is little or no testing for alcohol and I have heard stories from friends that they had some teachers who would spike their coffee with alcohol while in school (maybe the system has changed as we have all been out of school for awhile).

3. Some of the drug laws should be changed IMO (but that was addressed in another thread).
Drug laws aren't set up to catch th eworst offenders. Hell, in most cases they don't catch any offender. What they are set up to do is to protect the employer. You are a liabilty to not only yourself but also to customers, other employees, and the company iteslf if you show up drunk or high.

[ladymelissa]

Drug laws aren't set up to catch th eworst offenders. Hell, in most cases they don't catch any offender. What they are set up to do is to protect the employer. You are a liabilty to not only yourself but also to customers, other employees, and the company iteslf if you show up drunk or high.
That's the problem with the tests, you don't have to be high at the time to test positive.

[Kacie_bride]

Lacey- I see your point and for the most part I agree with you.

1. I just don't think that they are not set up to catch the worst offenders.

2. There is little or no testing for alcohol and I have heard stories from friends that they had some teachers who would spike their coffee with alcohol while in school (maybe the system has changed as we have all been out of school for awhile).

3. Some of the drug laws should be changed IMO (but that was addressed in another thread).

I live around an area where a lot of men work in the chemical plants about 45 minutes from here. They do test for drugs and alcohol. My mother works for the gas company and they can test for drugs and alcohol too.

[LaceyinPgh]

That's the problem with the tests, you don't have to be high at the time to test positive.
But chances are if you are high in the past chances are you will be high again. Fiar or not, they are protecting themselves and you their client.

[countrygirl]

But chances are if you are high in the past chances are you will be high again. Fiar or not, they are protecting themselves and you their client.

I can't tell you how many times I have watched people stay 'clean' for a month just to take the test, and then smoke minutes after the test was complete.

[ladymelissa]

But chances are if you are high in the past chances are you will be high again. Fiar or not, they are protecting themselves and you their client.
Maybe at home on their own time. I think the tests themselves could use some renovation, I wasn't saying there shouldn't be any testing at all. But that's just my opinion.

[countrygirl]

I know that w the testing for pot, they test the level of THC that is still in the body. If the person smoked a month ago, it isn't going to be as high. It doesn't matter though. If they are smoking at home, they are prob smoking in thier car, or in the bathroom. I spent 10 years watching people smoke (how I managed to never try it I just don't know) and they don't just do it at home. It doesn't work that way.

[AngelinLove]

I find it amusing that some of the same people that felt that it was fine and dandy to randomly drug test kids at school are opposed to random drug tests for themselves at work. I feel that if there is reason to warrant a drug test at work, then that is fine, but to just randomnly test people is bs!!!!

[CarlosHoney]

I know that w the testing for pot, they test the level of THC that is still in the body. If the person smoked a month ago, it isn't going to be as high. It doesn't matter though. If they are smoking at home, they are prob smoking in thier car, or in the bathroom. I spent 10 years watching people smoke (how I managed to never try it I just don't know) and they don't just do it at home. It doesn't work that way.I don't think that's a fair generalization to make. Is it fair to assume that just because you have a beer on occasion that you're DUI and getting wasted at work? No. But, if you are an alcoholic and have a problem, then yes, you might do that.. Being an addict and using something recreationally are two different things.. Just wanted to say that! :bbmrgreen:

[AllyM1]

I feel for the most parts drug tests are a way to find out what people do in their private lives.

This is a personal subject for me. I smoked marijuana for 3 years. Not one time did it effect my work performance. I actually was in the top 10% for performance incentives in my department.

I feel as long as you don't show up to work drunk, high, beaming, etc there shouldn't be drug testing.

I personally like the company's who only drug test if there is suspicion.

[Kacie_bride]

I find it amusing that some of the same people that felt that it was fine and dandy to randomly drug test kids at school are opposed to random drug tests for themselves at work. I feel that if there is reason to warrant a drug test at work, then that is fine, but to just randomnly test people is bs!!!!

I feel random tests in school and work are good. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think their argument would be that children in school are minors, but in the workplace they are adults.

[ladymelissa]

I don't think that's a fair generalization to make. Is it fair to assume that just because you have a beer on occasion that you're DUI and getting wasted at work? No. But, if you are an alcoholic and have a problem, then yes, you might do that.. Being an addict and using something recreationally are two different things.. Just wanted to say that! :bbmrgreen:
I second that!

My standards are different for kids b/c they are minors and minors do not and should not have the same privileges as adults. Also, minors are much more susceptible to things of that nature and often times don't have the capacity to make informed, sound choices. Also, their bodies and brains are still developing so I do not support recreational drug use for minors at all and every effort should be made to keep them healthy.

[rainbowtreat]

I have skimmed this thread and I hope I dont repeat what others have said but I beleive that if a company wants to test they have that right. Just as they have the right to set a dress code.