Marijuana and Workplace Safety – What Does Common Sense Say?

If you were so inclined, you could spend months researching evidence regarding marijuana use and its potential effects on health and safety. For every study you find to support one side of the argument, you’re just as likely to find a study countering it. And in doing so, most would evaluate whatever evidence they find, knowingly or unknowingly, with an element of confirmation bias which is the tendency to evaluate evidence in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

As such, it can take a significant amount of time and effort to locate and interpret reliable, unbiased, scientific information and evaluate it in an unbiased way. There goes you weekend.

If you were to believe the pro-marijuana crowd, marijuana seemingly has no effect on workplace safety, car crashes, or few or no negative effects on health.

However, there are just some things in life which just seem to be evident, whether by simple common sense or by real world experience. This leads us to a recent marijuana-related post on the popular blog site Gawker.com. The post entitled “Don’t Ever Call the Cops on Yourself, Even When You’re High as Sh*t” tells the story about a 22-year-old Ohio man who, while high, called the police (listen here) on himself telling them that he was “too high on weed.” The police report reads” The officer walked into the doorway and observed [REDACTED] laying on the floor, in the fetal position. [REDACTED] was surrounded by a plethora of Doritos, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, and Chips Ahoy cookies. [REDACTED] stated to this officer that he could not feel his hands.”

We could stop right there and apply our “common sense” filter and come to the conclusion that being under the influence of marijuana is undoubtedly a potentially serious safety issue both for the user and for those around them. This genius marijuana user is certainly not capable of remotely comprehending the consequences of his actions. God forbid he gets behind the wheel, or say needs to operate a semi-truck or crane the next morning. But just as interesting, as it often is on blog-type websites, are the comments below the story. They often are full of “me too” type anecdotes in which others get the opportunity to share their experiences. If you somehow have found yourself believing the pro-pot crowd that marijuana isn’t a threat to health and safety, we’ve presented some of the comments here for your enjoyment.

“I called an ambulance and spent most of my night at the ER one time because I vaped all the kief in my grinder and thought I was having a heart attack. Thank god for Obamacare.”

“I once found(!) some weed after being sober forever, and had a panic attack. I knew what was happening though, so I just laid flat on the ground and focused on breathing slowly for about 20 minutes.‘You never think it will happen to you until it does’ was my takeaway for the evening.”

“Story time. Third time I ever smoked was a first time for a mutual friend. He started out fine, we played Tony Hawk and ate bagel bites. Then in a split second he drops the controller, runs to the middle of the backyard and assumed the prayer position stating that he thinks he’s dying. Starts verbally praying to god and begging me to drive him to the hospital. It was nuts and I really felt for the guy. I made a deal with him and said wait 30 minutes and I’ll drive you. Thank goodness he came down off the high perch.”

“My boss invited me to his wife’s bo-0-r-ing birthday party. I had some fine Columbian gold; that’ll lighten things up right? I ground up about a gram, chased it with a beer, and headed out. By the time I got to the restaurant, dude, I was flyin’; I thought the hostess was going to offer me a bag of peanuts and tell me to fasten my seatbelt….After an hour or so, I was so stoned, I was nearly comatose…When the party was finally over, I couldn’t find my car; the hostess called me a cab.”

Well, so there you have it. Do you really need folders full of scientific data to realize that marijuana users might have be a threat to safety in the work place or have a negative effect on the health of the user? The question is, would you want any one of these guys working for your company? Operating heavy machinery the next day? Making critical decisions? Operating a vehicle?

I don’t know. You can have your studies; I’ll stick with my common sense.