Failing a workplace drug test can mean the loss of your job.
Losing your job can mean the loss of your home.
Sure, the fact that the shooting happened at a drug testing facility may be just coincidence. Maybe he’s been dumped by a woman who works there. Maybe he used to work there and got fired. But I’ve got my money on “working man with long career loses job because of drug test, returns to exact his revenge.”
Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 10:15 am | By: Radical Russ
(Guardian UK) “I first took coke when I was 18 and at university. I remember two friends who did chemistry told me I should get really drunk first because it would mix into this new chemical in my blood and make me even higher,” a 30-year-old woman who works in publishing told the Observer yesterday.
What her friends did not tell her is that the combination of cocaine and alcohol in her then teenage body will have left a highly toxic chemical in her liver called cocaethylene.
For not only is cocaethylene toxic in the liver, it is also blamed for heart attacks in the under-40s and a surge in social problems. But because so little is known about the drug, few experts can agree on the nature of the threat to users, and indeed society as a whole.
Cocaine-related deaths are also increasing in the US. The US National Household Drug Survey estimated that around five million people used alcohol and cocaine each month.
Yes, but five million people also realize that they can have a great Friday or Saturday night out on the town, dancing and drinking til the wee morning hours, with a bump of coke every now and then, sleep it off Sunday, and unless their workplace random drug testing pops them early on Monday morning, they can probably pass a urine screen.
But if 14 million people wanted to have a fun weekend with a toke of a natural, herbal social relaxant shared communally among friends, knowing it is non-toxic to their liver and far safer to themselves and society than alcohol or cocaine or mixing the two, a workplace random drug test anytime in the next week to a month means chugging nasty-tasting body flushes and water or mixing up freeze-dried urine, strapping it to their thighs along with a chemical hand warmer and maybe even wearing a prosthetic penis to be certain they can beat the pee test and continue to pay their mortgages and feed their families.
Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 am | By: Radical Russ
(Detroit Free Press) Employers are facing tough issues as they try to navigate the state’s fledgling medical marijuana law, such as the difference between “smoke” and “ingest.”
Or whether company policies on drug testing still apply in a state where 63% of voters approved a new law last fall allowing medical use of marijuana.
One section of the law says a registered user can’t be “subject to arrest, prosecution or penalty in any manner or denied any right or privilege including … disciplinary action by a business … for the medical use of marijuana.”
Another portion of the law says “nothing in this act shall be construed to require an employer to accommodate the ingestion of marijuana in any workplace or any employee working while under the influence of marijuana.”
A third section says no one can possess or use medical marijuana on a school bus or on school grounds, but smoking pot is expressly prohibited only on public transportation or in any public place. It’s unclear… whether it’s OK for a certified user to eat, for example, marijuana-laced brownies in a public place.
Why the hell not? Geez, what do you think happens, the super-potent Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed™ causes the brownie eater to strip off their clothes and run naked through the park? I can understand an objection to smoking marijuana in a public place where others may not appreciate the smell, but this idea that we need to confine people who use a certain medicine to the shadows is unAmerican and repulsive!
My father is disabled and among the handful of pills he must take every day are some Vicodin, a very addictive, very powerful, potentially fatal drug. Yet nobody is telling my dad he can’t pop open his pill bottle at the public park when it’s time for his medicine. Why would they?
If an employer were to require his employees to be free from the influence of Vicodin while on shift, we could certainly understand that. But would he require that they not take Vicodin once they get off work?
How people who’ve never used marijuana perceive marijuana fascinates me. People who can openly tolerate parking lots at taverns and .08 BAC laws freak out over the idea that a pot smoker might drive a car. People who can accept a Marinol bottle with the warning “until you know how you’ll react to Marinol, don’t drive or operate heavy machinery” implode at the thought of a medical marijuana patient driving a forklift or a school bus. People who make jokes at work about their hangovers or go to work sick loaded on anti-histamines and psuedoephedrine will regale you with the notion that a person who fails a marijuana metabolite pee test is an unsafe worker and a drain on company productivity.
The law seems pretty clear to me: no disciplinary action for using medical marijuana. Accommodating it at work would mean building a smoking tent outside for your cardholders and allowing them to take breaks to medicate on the job; nobody is suggesting that. What we’re suggesting – and the law supports – is that a person cannot be fired, not hired, or punished solely for being a medical marijuana patient. If you drug test them and they test positive for marijuana metabolites, that test simply reveals they are a medical marijuana patient, a status you cannot punish them for. How much clearer could it be? If you catch them with weed on the job site (smokeable or in a brownie), you have a cause for action, but if you just catch them with inactive metabolites in their pee, let them work.
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 3:40 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) Pittsburgh firefighters soon will be randomly tested for drugs and can be fired for failing as part of the five-year contract agreed to by city and union officials last week, Public Safety Director Mike Huss said Monday.
“We still have the labor management committee working out the details, but at minimum, it will provide random testing for the first time,” Huss said. “They will immediately be terminated the next time there’s a problem.”
Joe King, president of the fire union, said random testing is the “prudent thing to do.”
“People in this society hold us to a higher standard and we agree, but it’s very complicated,” he said. “Everybody’s entitled to a second chance.”
State law says Pittsburgh firefighters can’t be fired unless the action is approved by a trial board of three other firefighters, something Huss said the city has “struggled with for a long time.” The new process will set aside the trial board for drug offenses only, he said.
“There are some cases we’ve been very frustrated with. It’s a small percentage, but we put a lot of trust in these folks and we have to make sure they’re clean and can function safely,” Huss said.
Let me get this straight. If Joe the Drunk Fireman who shows up for work hung over on alcohol and regularly violates some safety protocols, let’s say, then state law says that a board of three fellow firefighters must concur if the city wants to fire Joe. But if Bob the Pothead Fireman shows up for work completely sober every day and is a exemplary firefighter, only the positive result on a pee test is necessary if the city wants to fire Bob.
Pittsburgh’s firefighters will work a 24 hour shift followed by two days off. If we want to make sure they’re “clean and can function safely”, why do you have them working 24 hours at a time? Certainly they get the opportunity to sleep in the firehouse between calls, but on a busy day, isn’t it possible the firefighters wouldn’t be functioning safely due to drowsiness?
Furthermore, for the occasional user, especially a fit firefighter type with a high metabolism, most other drugs but cannabis will be undetectable after 24-48 hours. If Pittsburgh is really serious about making sure its firefighters can “function safely”, then it should employ simple non-invasive electronic testing that detects all forms of impairment regardless of source.
Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 8:55 pm | By: Radical Russ
Show 004: Three special episodes live from NORML National Conference!
NORML’s new talk radio program, NORML SHOW LIVE, will be streaming for three days at the 2009 NORML National Conference, “Yes We Cannabis”, live from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco. These special three-hour episodes will be available at live.norml.org at the following special times and archived for download later just fifteen minutes after broadcast:
Thursday, September 24
11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
Friday, September 25
11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
Saturday, September 26
3:00pm – 6:00pm Pacific Time
The show will be hosted by “Radical” Russ Belville, but with very limited commercial interruption and the occasional narration. After the shows broadcast remotely in the difficult wireless environment of Portland’s Kelley Point Park and the noisy backstage of the Boston Freedom Rally, Russ is excited to present an indoor event that will take its audio directly from the conference PA system.
Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 3:36 pm | By: Radical Russ
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ — San Diego DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor claims that California DUI laws should not be applied to marijuana usage. Unlike alcohol and many drugs, he says, marijuana probably does not impair driving.
On the one hand, the California Department of Justice has found that marijuana impairs psychomotor abilities that are functionally related to driving, particularly at high-dose levels or among inexperienced users. (”Marijuana and Alcohol: A Driver Performance Study,” California Office of Traffic Safety Project No. 087902)
However, the San Diego DUI defense attorney points out, two federal studies contradict this.
In one, the U.S. Department of Transportation conducted DUI research with a fully interactive simulator on the effects of alcohol and marijuana, alone and in combination, on driver-controlled behavior and performance. Although alcohol was found consistently and significantly to cause impairment, marijuana had only an occasional effect.
Accidents and speeding tickets reliably increased with alcohol, but no marijuana or combined alcohol-marijuana influence was noted. (”The Effects of Alcohol on Driver-Controlled Behavior in a Driving Simulator, Phase I”(DOT-HS-806-414).)
Taylor, who heads a large firm of DUI attorneys with offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Riverside and San Francisco, points to another more recent report. Entitled “Marijuana and Actual Performance” (DOT-HS-808-078), it also found that “THC is not a profoundly impairing drug….It apparently affects controlled information processing in a variety of laboratory tests, but not to the extent which is beyond the individual’s ability to control when he is motivated and permitted to do so in driving.”
The researchers found that it “appears not possible to conclude anything about a driver’s impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.”
Sounds like a “whoo-hoo!” moment, huh? Well, not so fast. NORML’s Principles of Responsible Use states “The responsible cannabis consumer does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery while impaired by cannabis.”
The $64,000 question*, then, is “what defines impaired?” I can tell you that one puff off a vape bag full of Oregon’s finest will severely impair your average Kansas ditchweed smoker, while that same puff for a 5g/day Oregon patient won’t even break his concentration from completing the New York Times crossword.
The same phenomenon exists for alcohol; the alcoholic can seem perfectly capable with as many drinks under his belt as would knock out your average sorority sister. But as a society, we decided that there should be an absolute measurable physical limit – .08 blood alcohol content – that defines impairment per se, that is, if you’re over .08 you’re too impaired even if you’re not really too impaired.
As always when there is a story about cannabis drug testing and driving, I called on NORML’s Deputy Director, Paul Armentano. Here’s what he had to say:
Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:15 pm | By: Radical Russ
London, Aug 10 (ANI): A new study has revealed that stress and dieting can lead to a positive cannabis test long after the drug was last used.
Lead researcher Jonathon Arnold, from the University of Sydney in Australia, says that the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is instantly absorbed by fat cells and over the next few days is slowly diffused back into the blood.
During the study, Arnold and colleague Iain McGregor exposed THC-laden fat cells taken from rats to the stress hormone ACTH.
The researchers found that the hormone increased the speed of release of THC from the cells.
They later injected rats with 10 milligrams per kilogram of THC (equivalent to a person smoking between five and 10 cannabis cigarettes, depending on their strength) every day for 10 days.
Two days later, they injected a third of the rats with ACTH, deprived another third of food for 24 hours, with the rest as controls.
They found that rats that were not given food had double the blood level of THC acid, a metabolite of THC, compared with the controls.
The other group exposed to ACTH also showed a statistically significant increase in THC acid levels.
Paul Armentano has been documenting the science of how long-term cannabis users can fail a cannabis screening up to 100 days after ceasing cannabis use, and that people can pass many cannabis screens and then fail one. So many people who are on probation or parole have cannabis screening as a part of their sentence and so many go back to prison when the failed cannabis screen turns up. These people often insist that they have stopped using cannabis, but prosecutors contend that the failed test, especially after passing a few tests, is evidence of the re-initiation of cannabis use.
The science Armentano has documented shows this clearly is not the case, but until now there has been no understanding of why the levels of detectable THC and metabolites rise and fall so dramatically in the former user’s blood and urine. This research begins to unravel that mystery and shows us that stress and diet may have much to do with it. The research has not yet been replicated in humans, but this gives scientists a clue to study further.
My not-so-scientific analysis? If you’re trying to pass a drug test, stop smoking pot for a few weeks, chill out, and eat a Twinkie.
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 2:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Technology Review) Later this year, Philips will introduce a handheld electronic device that uses magnetic nanoparticles to screen for five major recreational drugs.
Philips’ drug tester uses a cartridge containing magnetic nanoparticles and a handheld analyzer. Frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) is used to detect five major recreational drugs in 90 seconds.
The device is intended for roadside use by law enforcement agencies and includes a disposable plastic cartridge and a handheld analyzer. The cartridge has two components: a sample collector for gathering saliva and a measurement chamber containing magnetic nanoparticles. The particles are coated with ligands that bind to one of five different drug groups: cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamine, and methamphetamine.
The test takes less than 90 seconds and can detect drugs at concentrations measured in parts-per-billion using a single microliter of saliva.
The combination of high sensitivity, low sample volumes, miniaturization, speed, and ease of use has raised hopes for a handheld biosensor that could perform sophisticated tests with high accuracy.
I will get Paul Armentano on the program to discuss this further. Back in January, he wrote on the subject:
Because saliva tests detect the presence of THC, not marijuana’s inactive metabolites, and have a much more narrow window of detection compared to urinalysis, advocates of the technology believe that it is far more likely than urine testing to provide evidence regarding whether someone may be under the influence of cannabis.
The article examined findings in France that saliva testing “fails to detect the recent use of cannabis over 50 percent of the time” and that “saliva testing is rarely sensitive to THC beyond one or two hours after past use, and that false positive results are not uncommon.” However, if this is new technology, these studies may not apply.
I’m conflicted about this one. On one hand, one of the biggest obstacles we face in legalization is the fear of stoned drivers. If a technology exists that will accurately detect recent and possibly impairing marijuana use in drivers, that could go a long way in removing that obstacle in the minds of many. However, on the other hand, we’re once again confusing the body’s chemical composition with a driver’s actual impairment. No matter where you set the line – anywhere from 2ng/ml to 5mg/ml – you will have people who pass the legal threshhold but are actually quite fine to drive. (I suppose you could make the same argument about .08 BAC in a drinking driver, too.)
Because saliva tests detect the presence of THC, not marijuana’s inactive metabolites, and have a much more narrow window of detection compared to urinalysis, advocates of the technology believe that it is far more likely than urine testing to provide evidence regarding whether someone may be under the influence of cannabis.
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 5:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(The Detroit News) Former Michigan State and Lions Charles Rogers talks of getting hooked on prescription pills and admits to a past daily marijuana habit, according to excerpts from an interview for an upcoming segment on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
“Regularly, regularly, yeah I blew every day,” Rogers tells ESPN and former Detroit Free Press reporter Jemele Hill, answering the question how often he smoked marijuana while in the NFL. “But you know, I was doing something wrong. You can’t smoke in the league, so I was wrong.”
Rogers was a two-time All-Big Ten receiver and an All-American in 2002 for the Spartans before the Lions selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.
A much-hyped selection given his local roots and his hefty contract — he signed a six-year, $55 million deal — Rogers, a Saginaw native, caught two touchdown passes in his NFL debut, a 43-24 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 7, 2003.
That was the high point of a career that fell hard and fell quickly.
Rogers missed much of his rookie season with a broken collarbone, then suffered a similar injury early in the 2004 season. But the big blow came in 2005, when he was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He returned from the punishment but was mostly ineffective, with nine catches and one touchdown in the season’s final seven games.
Speaking of that third season, then-Lions president Matt Millen tells ESPN’s Hill: “He was average. Something clearly was wrong. He looked like a different guy.”
Gee, Matt, on your 4-12 2005 team, “average” would have been spectacular, wouldn’t it? (And no, I’m not just bitter because one of those four wins was on opening day against reen Bay.)
I hate the headline and tone of this article, which would have you believing that Charles Rogers is a sad case of a talented athlete whose career was ruined by weed. But think about it for a second. Do we think he just started smoking marijuana when he was drafted by Detroit? I doubt it. Instinct tells me he “blew every day” while he was becoming a two-time All-Big-Ten receiver, All-American, and #2 overall NFL draft pick. Then he suffers a broken collarbone – a very painful injury – twice in his first two years in the league. He uses cannabis, I assume, as part of the pain relief and prescription pills for the rest. Then he’s suspended for “substance abuse”, which has to be the weed, because they won’t suspend you for legit prescriptions. So, again I assume, he has to quit the cannabis, but the pain still remains, so he has to keep using the pills, perhaps more of them since cannabis tends to moderate the need for opioids.
I’m betting the mind fog from prescription pills plus the fear of leaping over the middle for the tough catch and getting pegged in that collarbone by Brian Urlacher twice a year would turn anyone into “a different guy”.
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Stasher MoldyCutter forwarded me a comment he found on a post at the New York Times that answers beautifully the prohibitionist’s claim that “emergency room admissions for marijuana are skyrocketing!”:
15 years of full time emergency medicine and I’ve maybe seen 10 visits to the ER for cannabis – these fall into 2 categories: 1. pot brownies – an unfortunate way to ingest way too much cannabis – unpleasant, but completely non-life threatening. 2. And (the vast majority of those 10 visits) parent who brings in normal appearing teen asking for a drug test for pot (available over the counter, by the way for you parents out there).
I see that “ER visits going up” canard regularly and the writer might as well say “I’m an idiot” – what is a “marijuana related ER visit”? Are they counting every positive urine drug screen? Or just people who come complaining that their pot is too potent? What?
Of all the drug / medicine related misery I’ve seen, the dearth of ER visits I’ve seen due to cannabis suggest that when it comes to drugs, cannabis may be the most benign substance on earth (if you want to measure that by ER visits). Clearly the worst thing about it is that it can get you into serious legal problems (since it’s not legal).
People have always and will always use plants and synthetic compounds to alter their senses – period. When it comes to the drug war, the diagnosis is clear: the treatment is worse than the disease.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
Radical Russ: Testing, testing, 347-994-1810, chat with "Radical" Russ at the Cannabis Café, private invite for Stashers only!
RevRayGreen: I was like 14/15 back then..old fuckng school sht
RevRayGreen: @MH.....white x's, yellow jackts,BB's.then it became just caffeine pills
SneakerPimp: im diggen yesterdays stash daily toker tunes segment awesome
WakeUpDead: Just got done with yesterdays stash and now the new one is up, very cool.
SneakerPimp: ah fresh stashieness
SneakerPimp: nice pic there mr ruben
Missippi Hippy: black beauties - got 'em by the pharm sealed 1000 in the 80s
Adam: Kieth Stroup told me that he has new book coming out, it will cover the time periods after High in America was published.
Adam: I recommend that you all read High in America: The True Story Behind NORML and the Politics of Marijuana.
Read it FREE online HERE
http://tinyurl.com/cxzc3h
slash5city: ah the mid 80's spof ..the summers of 3d weed.... head down to the smoking area at school buy a 2$ pin joint or two from the one dealer then [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
2 dead, 2 injured at shooting in Portland-area drug testing center
reen Bay.)
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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