HUNTINGTON (The Herald-Dispatch) – A labor organization’s former voice for a drug-free work force pleaded guilty Friday to trafficking medical-grade marijuana.
Wendall Aaron Searls, 56, admitted in court Friday that he grew medical-grade marijuana for consumption by himself, his friends and family.
Within months before the arrest, Searls had appeared in anti-drug commercials on behalf of the Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation. The commercial listed Searls as a member of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 521. It has appeared on television and YouTube to promote the organization’s drug-free message.
“Nobody wants to work next to anybody whose judgment is impaired by drugs or alcohol,” Searls said in the commercial. “We don’t just talk a drug-free work force. We do something about it. The union work force is a drug-free work force.”
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 521, huh? Did somebody call about a problem with empty pipes?
Another drug-free workplace hypocrisy, not at all unusual or surprising. Our workplaces are anything but drug-free, especially in a workplace environment where sick days are at a premium and health care is hard to come by. We’re working next to people every day whose judgment and reactions are impaired by antihistamines, energy drinks, benzodiazepenes, opioid painkillers, and more. We collect workers’ pee to make sure they never smoke pot but we rarely do anything to check whether they had a beer during lunch hour. Obviously Mr. Searls was a good enough worker to rise in the ranks of his union and respectable enough to select as a spokesman. It’s not likely that he went from never smoking a joint to running a 100-plus plant grow house in just a few weeks; he’s likely been a pot smoker all his working life.
