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    Masshole JamesAndy Cush
    5/17/16 10:18am

    Thank you for this! I’m productive as hell even tho I’m usually hungover at my desk every morning but I still manage to do my job well and hang out on Gawker all day!

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      Hip Brooklyn StereotypeMasshole James
      5/17/16 10:19am

      I’ve been inspired by James Comey to apply for a position at the FBI immediately!

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      Cam/ronMasshole James
      5/17/16 10:21am

      Hungover? One old-fashioned cure: early in the morning, mix a few dashes of Angostura bitters with seltzer water or club soda.

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    portland1Andy Cush
    5/17/16 10:31am

    I had a job a few years ago whose drug testing policy was: If you test positive during your random test, you will be retested in 30 days. The owner explained to me that his goal was to identify people who could not control themselves sufficiently to avoid meth or unprescribed opiates or cocaine or club drugs even knowing that they would have a test coming up in 30 days. He would never have fired anyone for testing positive the first time, although I wondered how comfortable a job would be if you remained there after popping for hard drugs.

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      RobertMadooportland1
      5/17/16 10:34am

      Fuck that - they are a boss at your job, not an authority figure in your life.

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      portland1RobertMadoo
      5/17/16 10:47am

      Fuck my concern that it would be difficult to remain on a job after testing positive for meth? Or fuck, rather, drug testing itself? I agree that there are classical liberal arguments against the practice of general pre-employment drug testing, as a human being should retain sovereignty over her or his person. Requiring someone to submit to an invasive and unwarranted search irks me conceptually.

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    Jeb! & The HologramsAndy Cush
    5/17/16 11:22am

    Counterargument:

    Keep drug testing employees. It makes it far easier to find and hire those who are responsible people and not suffering from a dependency issue while highlighting a potentially serious problem for those who can’t put the one-hitter away long enough to find and keep a job.

    ETA: My word, some of you are defensive. Feel like you’re looking into a mirror reading the last sentence?

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      RoboBorealisJeb! & The Holograms
      5/17/16 11:55am

      Counter-counter argument:

      Employees should be able to demand a drug test of their boss at any time in order to assure themselves that they are working for a responsible, upstanding citizen.

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      Jeb! & The HologramsRoboBorealis
      5/17/16 12:01pm

      In theory, sure.

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    DolemiteAndy Cush
    5/17/16 10:32am

    This is currently a problem where I work. Management can’t find enough good employees that can pass a background check, a drug test, references, etc. The kicker is this is for a minimum wage job. All of that testing to just find someone to pay $7.50 an hour. They’ve actually had to fire some very good and responsible workers because they came back positive. To boot, the person that administers the tests has no training in HR or drug laws or anything. To further boot, the test kits were cheap crap bought in bulk that are close to their expiration dates, and many false positives have come through.

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      LooseSEALDolemite
      5/17/16 10:36am

      I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, I’ve only had to submit a drug test for one of them: Target for $6.25 an hour.

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      DolemiteLooseSEAL
      5/17/16 10:38am

      The only people subject to tests here are the minimum wage people. Us upper level people don’t have to do it.

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    Sean BrodyAndy Cush
    5/17/16 10:37am

    I volunteer with kids at a vocational school in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Boston, with a view to getting them (potentially lucrative) union jobs.
    Drug-testing is the number one barrier to their entry to the workforce.
    I mean I understand the the requirement, with the heavy machinery aspect of these jobs.
    But it’s goddamn heartbreaking to see these great kids futures and options being made narrower and smaller because of some fucking weed.



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      GeorgeMotherfuckingJonesSean Brody
      5/17/16 10:48am

      It breaks my heart that they put an illegal substance ahead of being employable. It is pretty simple don’t smoke weed!

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      toxoplasmaSean Brody
      5/17/16 10:52am

      Quick Fix. It absolutely works.

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    the johnAndy Cush
    5/17/16 10:36am

    Highway fatalities in the state hit historic lows after it legalized pot.

    I agree with the overall sentiment, but this just seems like a bad use of data. It’s more likely that the warmer winter contributed to fewer snow/ice conditions that lead to accidents.

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      foolyoothe john
      5/17/16 10:55am

      Or expansion of alternative forms of transportation. Lightrail, Uber, and Lyft have been a godsend to my responsible driving and nightlife.

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      the johnfoolyoo
      5/17/16 11:01am

      Also a possibility! Seems like some data analysis is needed, not just some Post Hoc lazyness.

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    det-devil-ailsAndy Cush
    5/17/16 11:34am

    Drug testing is possibly the last great nation-wide scam. Millions of people every year at $100 - $200 each... and since most drugs typically don’t remain in a person’s system long enough to be caught on a drug test, they’re essentially being tested exclusively for pot. Pot, that an employee might have smoked 3 weeks ago on a Saturday night in the privacy of their own home. The industry really bloomed when Reagan mandated that all corporations with government contracts had to drug test their employees.

    You’d think with a guaranteed cash cow that big, the drug companies would be satisfied, but their greed has incentivized them to try and expand into other (mandated) markets. They then made in-roads into public and private education. The drug testing of public housing dwellers, welfare recipients, and food stamp users are all constantly a political football... all people that aren’t in a position to argue about it, and that the general public doesn’t care enough about to stand up for.

    This is a multi-billion dollar industry that is (almost entirely) geared to test people for the ingestion of an unadulterated plant. The results of which are no indication that the employee was ever impaired while on the job. The results of which can cost people jobs, and up-end lives.

    The real kick in the ass is, most people think pot should be legal.

    TL:DR: Corporations, stop being suckers. Reinvest that money you’re wasting on drug testing back into your operation and your employees.

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      ExtraExtradet-devil-ails
      5/17/16 12:39pm

      The problem is they're constantly told "Hiring drug users = X billion dollars lost!" with no context or explanation of where that comes from. Plus insurance discounts. It's bullshit.

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      det-devil-ailsExtraExtra
      5/17/16 12:47pm

      yep...

      GIF
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    ArkAndy Cush
    5/17/16 12:08pm

    Counterpoint: Weed is still illegal in most of the US, and nobody is putting a gun to your head and making you smoke it.

    If you don’t like the consequences, maybe...just don’t smoke weed when you’re looking for a job? Shocking proposal, I know.

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      NicoArk
      5/17/16 4:15pm

      It's still pretty dumb though. I've worked at the same place for 4 1/2 years, I have not smoked weed exactly 120 days of that time... just enough time to pass 4 drug tests. All they're doing is wasting their money, and here I am, a pothead in their midst, and they all love me and keep getting me raises. I went from $9.20-$15/hr in a 4 year period, clearly pot is not an issue.

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      PeeEssAyNico
      5/17/16 4:36pm

      If you really need to smoke everyday, I’d say you have a problem.

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    Ed SpockAndy Cush
    5/17/16 10:21am

    OTOH I would really like the US Congress and all state legislative and executive bodies to START drug testing their employees.

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      NoOnesPostEd Spock
      5/17/16 11:52am

      Sounds like a great way to make government less likely to legalize.

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      NicoEd Spock
      5/17/16 4:03pm

      I find it sad and funny that your doctor was not drug tested, but the kid checking you out at walmart was.

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    Mo12Andy Cush
    5/17/16 10:31am

    You’ve clearly never managed temp workers and realized how miserable it is to deal with them. Getting rid of the worst is not a bad thing at all.

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      Armageddon T. ThunderbirdMo12
      5/17/16 10:35am

      A future-less job fails to attract the best and brightest?

      GIF
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      GeorgeMotherfuckingJonesMo12
      5/17/16 10:52am

      Exactly, I work around entry level people with very troubled pasts. Drug testing isn’t a bad thing, many of these people can’t resist the addiction and need to hit rock bottom to recover. Why would these companies want to continue to employ someone who is is a risk to safety when they can roll the dice on the next applicant?

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