Is Marijuana So Bad? It is for the Workplace
By Bill Current
Founder of Current Consulting Group
When a California band from the 1970s was searching for the perfect name, a friend suggested they call themselves “The Doobie Brothers” because they were always smoking pot.[i] Supposedly, the members of the band thought it was a dumb name, but it caught on and the rest is history.
Today, marijuana is known by many names, including pot, weed, dope, ganja, Mary Jane, reefer, grass, and the politically correct “cannabis.” Another word that could be used to describe marijuana is “legal.”
As of 2024, 28 states and U.S. territories, including the District of Columbia, have legalized marijuana for “personal possession and consumption of cannabis by adults.”[ii] Additionally, 43 states and territories have legalized pot for medicinal use, despite the fact that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, which carefully evaluates all drugs for safety, efficacy, and quality, has not approved marijuana for any therapeutic purposes.[iii]
The proponents of marijuana legalization have sold the United States a proverbial “bill of goods.” This refers to something that has “intentionally been misrepresented or something passed off in a deception or fraud.”[iv] According to the same federal government that refuses to enforce some marijuana laws, cannabis is neither harmless to the user’s health or free of negative consequences in society.[v] [vi]
The physical and mental effects of marijuana use can be devastating to a person’s quality of life. Breathing problems, increased heart rate, hallucinations, paranoia, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and suicidal thoughts are not uncommon among regular users.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) offers the following: “Marijuana smokers experience serious health problems such as bronchitis, emphysema, and bronchial asthma. Extended use may cause suppression of the immune system. Withdrawal from chronic use of high doses of marijuana causes physical signs including headache, shakiness, sweating, and stomach pains and nausea.”[vii]
Marijuana and the Workplace
A specific area of society that is being significantly affected by the legalization of marijuana is the workplace. How? Consider some of the short-term effects of using marijuana such as altered sense of time, changes in mood, impaired body movement, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, and impaired memory. These can all negatively impact an employee’s ability to perform their job properly.
For employers trying to maintain safe workplaces and productive employees, there are three critical questions that must be answered:
Are employees using marijuana on their way to work? In a survey of 500 employees who admitted to being regular marijuana users, 31% confessed that they use marijuana during their commute to the workplace.[viii] In Current Consulting Group’s (CCG) 2024 Drug Testing Industry Survey, 78% of drug testing providers said they have had at least some clients discontinue testing for marijuana. And 59% said they believe the decision to discontinue testing for marijuana encourages employees to consume marijuana before work.
Are employees using marijuana while on the job? Another survey of employees found that more than 1 in 5 said they have used marijuana recreationally in the workplace and during work hours. Further, nearly 5% admitted to using marijuana recreationally on a daily basis and over 13% said they use marijuana at work more than once a month.[ix] In the survey of 500 marijuana-using employees cited above, 48% admitted to using pot at work, either during breaks or while actively working.[x]
Are employees working while under the influence of marijuana? While it’s true that a positive drug test does not prove that a person is impaired, it does prove that they have drugs in their system. Because a rapid oral fluid drug test detects the drug itself, sometimes referred to as the “parent drug,” rather than a metabolite it is capable of detecting drugs within minutes after a person uses. This means a positive rapid oral fluid test result may indicate that the person is actually impaired on the job.
A 2021 analysis of 80 scientific studies concluded that the window of impairment from cannabis use is “between three and 10 hours.”[xi]
The report also stated that impairment “may last up to 10 hours if high doses of THC are consumed orally. A more typical duration of impairment, however, is four hours, when lower doses of THC are consumed via smoking or vaporisation and simpler tasks are undertaken (e.g., those using cognitive skills such as reaction time, sustained attention and working memory). This impairment may extend up to six or seven hours if higher doses of THC are inhaled and complex tasks, such as driving, are assessed.”[xii]
Should Employers Care?
Here’s a bonus question: Why should employers care if their employees are smoking dope on the way to work and/or getting high while on the job? Because marijuana-impaired workers are dangerous, unsafe, and more likely to be involved in a workplace accident. Consider the following:
According to the 2024 Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index (DTI): “Marijuana positivity in the general U.S. workforce increased 4.7% (4.3% in 2022 versus 4.5% in 2023). Over five years, marijuana positivity has increased 45.2%, with 2023 reaching a new peak compared to 2019 (3.1% in 2019 versus 4.5% in 2023).”[xiii]
“In 2023, post-accident marijuana positivity of urine drug tests in the general U.S. workforce was 7.5%. The new peak follows a steady increase in post-accident marijuana positivity every year from 2015 to 2023. In that 9-year time frame, post-accident marijuana positivity increased 114.3%.”[xiv]
Conclusion
Here’s what we know: too many employees are using marijuana while on their way to work and/or smoking pot while on the job, and many are impaired while working resulting in an increase in post-accident positive drug test results.
Should employers who are concerned about workplace safety conduct drug testing? Yes! And not only should they conduct drug testing, but specifically they should conduct pre-employment testing as a means to identify workers who are not a good fit for safety-sensitive jobs, and post-accident testing to identify workers who have violated company drug-free workplace policies and could continue to pose a risk to co-workers and customers if their on-the-job drug use remains undetected.
Regardless of what name you use for it, marijuana in the workplace is a problem and drug testing helps to mitigate its pervasive negative effects.
[i] Doar, Spencer (April 4, 2013). “Q&A with a Doobie Brother”. Minnesota Daily.
[ii] https://norml.org/laws/legalization/
[iii] “To date, the FDA has not approved a marketing application for cannabis for the treatment of any disease or condition.” “Caregivers and patients can be confident that FDA-approved drugs have been carefully evaluated for safety, efficacy, and quality, and are monitored by the FDA once they are on the market. However, the use of unapproved cannabis and cannabis-derived products can have unpredictable and unintended consequences, including serious safety risks. Also, there has been no FDA review of data from rigorous clinical trials to support that these unapproved products are safe and efficacious for the various therapeutic uses for which they are being used.” FDA and Cannabis: Research and Drug Approval Process. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-and-cannabis-research-and-drug-approval-process
[iv] Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary/bill%20of%20goods#:~:text=%3A%20something%20intentionally%20misrepresented%20%3A%20something%20passed,sell%20a%20bill%20of%20goods
[v] Cannabis (Marijuana) Drug Facts. National Institute on Drug Abuse. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/cannabis-marijuana
[vii] Drug Fact Sheet. Marijuana/Cannabis. DEA. https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/Marijuana-Cannabis%202022%20Drug%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
[viii] Cannabis Use During the Workday. Hound Labs. April 2023. https://houndlabs.com/2024/02/29/survey-offers-new-insights-about-cannabis-use-at-work/
[ix] The Prevalence of Substance Abuse in the Workplace. American Addiction Centers March 2023. https://drugabuse.com/addiction/substance-abuse-workplace/
[x] Hound Labs.
[xi] Scientists put the stopwatch on cannabis intoxication. The University of Sydney. April 2021. https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/04/12/scientists-put-stopwatch-on-cannabis-thc-intoxication-lambert-drug-driving.html
[xii] University of Sydney.
[xiii] Workforce Drug Test Cheating Surged in 2023, Finds Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index Analysis of Nearly 10 Million Drug Tests. Quest Diagnostics. May 2024. https://newsroom.questdiagnostics.com/2024-05-15-Workforce-Drug-Test-Cheating-Surged-in-2023,-Finds-Quest-Diagnostics-Drug-Testing-Index-Analysis-of-Nearly-10-Million-Drug-Tests
[xiv] Quest Drug Testing Index
