Medical Marijuana Activists keep an eye on colorado and fingers crossed.

[trike savior]

Heard about this case coming up and read this yahoo article this morning. This is supposed to be the first case to make it to the Colorado (First state to Legalize for recreation) supreme court reguarding the rights of companies to fire Medical Marijuana users for failing drug tests. As the article says people in other states have tried to fight for workplace equality and failed, but hopefully things will be different in colorado.

http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-high-...044139294.html

For those who do not understand: Marijuana, on average, stays in your system 30 days. Currently there is no way to tell if the person is currently under the influence or last smoked a week ago. this being one of the main reasons the fed is not wanting to leaglaize, because there would be no way to tell if the person is under the influence during an accident. Most other drugs like cocaine, heroin, meth-amphetamine are often out of your system in a week. this has long been the main component of hurting hard working "POT HEADS" in the work place. And something that gives every user anxiety and discomfort that no matter how hard they work, they can be fired at the chance of a random drug test.

This needs to stop. When the workday ends, the time is yours and your job should not be able to impose their regulations in your home. Furthermore there are many "POT HEADS" that are very skilled and better at their jobs then some of the clean people doing the same job. Do we really want to continue down this road of employing the careless and the lazy because they do not use a drug that has had a stupid history of prohibition built on lies.

If you really think it wasnt lies (reefer madness, etc), look at the federal govenments rating of marijuana as a schedule 1 substance, worse than cocaine and heroine. Main definition of schedule 1, No medicinal uses. But now we are finding it is a cure for more ailments than originally thought. And without the side effects of the compound filled capsules they have been shoving down their citizens throats to the tune of billions in profits and millions in campaign contributions. As the MEDICAL marijuana movement grows the federal govenment has now openly said they will stop going after the dispensaries but will still not change their view.

There are so many things i would like to go on about but those who care, know, and those who dont, will continue to call us hippies and idiots. Anyways, it would help if we could find a way to test peoples level of intoxication in real time so we could prove most of these people are not high on the job, but at the same time i would rather have the worlds great minds curing cancer and solving world hunger.

Those of you I know on here that use, keep your fingers crossed. this is our best chance at getting a win for our rights and keep in mind, IF the federal government ever does change their tune, a win in this case can be used as precedent by the U.S. supreme court if these cases can someday be taken there.

On a personal note: I totaled 2 vehicles in high school, DRUNK, almost killing 4 of my best friends (2 and 2). never had anything like that happen when on Marijuana and the stupidity continued in college. my father has stage 4 pancreatic cancer and sometimes has trouble eating and keeping it down. cannot convince him to try Marijuana due to the brainwashing of the federal government and the societal norms they instilled in his generation. Hurts that something that I personally know could really help him is not even up for discussion.

This prohibition is unbelievably stupid and needs to end

[kaymo]

DOWN WITH PROHIBITION!!! LEGALIZE MEDICINAL COCAINE TODAY!!!


sorry been playing too much gta5

[El Camexican]

Sounds like if the smokers get their way Colorado would become a utopia.

The average day might go something like this…

- Wake up in a home build and inspected by guys that were high
- Make breakfast for family using products that were handled and packaged by guys that were buzzed
- Send kids to school in a bus driven by a guy that just smoked a bomb to negotiate roadways with a few thousand other stoned drivers that are late for work
- Kids learn math, history and take sex-ed class from stoned teachers during the day
- Dad works construction as a crane operator 10 stories above the city while buzzed
- Mom drops the car off at the mechanics to have the brakes checked by “Roach” and takes a taxi to the hospital where she works as an OR nurse who assists doctors that perform open heart surgery while high
- At 6:00 everyone returns to the family home near the airport where stoned pilots pass over every few minutes as they approach Denver Airport
- After ordering pizza made and delivered by stoners (this one is actually true anywhere) they tune into the local news to hear about all the train derailments, gas line explosions, water main breaks and traffic fatalities (mostly shootings at green lights perpetrated by non-smokers in a rush to get somewhere)
- Mom and Dad tuck the kids in, lite up and marvel at the wonderful world they live in

As I’ve said before, I’m all for legalization, but it has to be controlled somehow. Until such time as levels can be detected forcing employers to take on users means taking on abuser’s as well.

[DohcBikes]

Sounds like if the smokers get their way Colorado would become a utopia.

The average day might go something like this…

- Wake up in a home build and inspected by guys that were high
- Make breakfast for family using products that were handled and packaged by guys that were buzzed
- Send kids to school in a bus driven by a guy that just smoked a bomb to negotiate roadways with a few thousand other stoned drivers that are late for work
- Kids learn math, history and take sex-ed class from stoned teachers during the day
- Dad works construction as a crane operator 10 stories above the city while buzzed
- Mom drops the car off at the mechanics to have the brakes checked by “Roach” and takes a taxi to the hospital where she works as an OR nurse who assists doctors that perform open heart surgery while high
- At 6:00 everyone returns to the family home near the airport where stoned pilots pass over every few minutes as they approach Denver Airport
- After ordering pizza made and delivered by stoners (this one is actually true anywhere) they tune into the local news to hear about all the train derailments, gas line explosions, water main breaks and traffic fatalities (mostly shootings at green lights perpetrated by non-smokers in a rush to get somewhere)
- Mom and Dad tuck the kids in, lite up and marvel at the wonderful world they live in

As I’ve said before, I’m all for legalization, but it has to be controlled somehow. Until such time as levels can be detected forcing employers to take on users means taking on abuser’s as well.

I catch the sarcasm here, but all of the above does happen every day... not that I agree with it.

Marijuana needs to be regulated just like alcohol. You don't see doctors prescribing rum for anxiety now do ya??,,, even though it sure does relax me and calm my nerves.....

Great to see you posting more often Savior!!

[DohcBikes]

Above post has nothing to do with medical use. That's just a chronic user saying "hey, look at me I'm still alive!!" You can't compare your life as a stoner by choice to what may have happened if you never smoked, you'll never know now.

There's plenty of alcoholics out there that think their life is the best it could be.....

[kaymo]

some of these posts just show how ignorant the opposition to legalization is. There are tons of people who consume marijuana not to get high, but for legit medical purposes. often they consume marijuana products that specfically dont get them high. ive got a friend thats just about hooked on big pharma pain killers because of his back. he can smoke one joint in a day and not hurt all day. epileptics that suffer from hundreds of seizures a year if not MONTHLY have shown to go to almost ZERO with marijuana use.

oh yeah, cancer? it fights that too. not just the nausea associated with chemo, actually FIGHTS cancer.

so yeah. lets quit with the stoner jokes and get serious.

[El Camexican]

Meanwhile the families of 70,000 dead Mexicans wish American would make it's mind up on the issue.

[El Camexican]

Marijuana needs to be regulated just like alcohol.

EXACTLY! Here's to replacing this with a burning reefer, but there needs to be control.

[trike savior]

what i think alot of people do not understand is the way your body begins to react when you smoke it everyday. most people just think it is always out of control laughter and stupidity. which admittedly is sometimes true and the common experience for many one time and occasional smokers who "tried it a few times in college". also just like alcohol it effects people differently. But when you smoke it everyday it become what i say is nothing but a tickle in the brain and a calming relaxation of the body. Motor functions are not decreased and i would argue awareness is increased because you are calm. now even as an every day smoker, it is still possible to have the laughing, stupid high when you smoke a large amount. Bongs and blunts and the sort. but smoking a bowl in the morning to feel better does not make you a danger to society.

El Cam: agreed there does need to be control and ability to tell someones level at that moment in time but the technology does not exist. in the mean time should we continue to make these people choose between their health and a job. the guy in the article worked at a customer service center. not going to hurt someone there.

Also we will find out for sure this coming year just how dangerous it is once the DOT and OSHA put together their accident reports together for Colorado and washington. I'd be willing to bet there will be little to no change. Might even be less drinking related incidents because people are using Marijuana instead.

[El Camexican]

I think once again most of us agree on 95% of things, but the 5% gets the gander up.

I am 100% pro user freedom, but as someone partially responsible for the operation of an organization that pays a fortune in insurance and has to deal with damages caused by operator error almost daily I have very strong opinions on who I want operating our cranes and fork-lifts.

If operating a lift truck while stoned is ok, then I would ask each of our operators to buy personal insurance so that I can sue them when $20,000 worth of goods slides off the ends of the forks and devalues by 90%. Sounds pretty unreasonable and unlikely eh? Well we as a company have to buy insurance and make everyone pee in a cup because if that scenario happens today and the load hurts someone we the company are responsible, not the operator at fault.

The trickle down ramifications of the issue are HUGH as legalization progresses, that’s why I’d be shocked if pot use becomes a hands off issue for employers before test and acceptable system levels are defined. Until then if someone has to use then perhaps they should be considered disabled and be qualified only for certain jobs, though in litigation obsessed America I can’t imagine what the jobs would be.

Glamy, once again I’m not sure exactly what you are asking or saying, but I assure you things were a hell of a lot better in Mexico before American politicians decided to crank up the laughable war on drugs and use your tax dollars to pay Mexicans to kill each other so that American parents wouldn’t have to raise their kids properly. The recently resigned Mr. Holder was even so kind as to arm one of the more violent cartels. Luckily for him his POS buddy in the big house had his back and slammed the door on the truth. I could go on and on, but I think I’ve stirred the pot (no pun intended) enough for now.

[tripledog]

I am not as think as you buzzed I am.

[El Camexican]

So the subject is pot vs employment drug screening (always thought it was a violation of privacy ) So if the insurance co. tells you.....we will no longer insure you if you wipe your arse with your left hand.......boy you`ll see alot of right handed arse wipers from now on ! This is what you have going on in the US today......the insurance industry rules everything including Osama bin Obama ! But oh when you make a claim......pennies on the dollar.....YOU ARE OWNED BY THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY they make the rules because you are their cash cow ! I do hope they win the case against Dish network cause they suck (overpriced garbage)Employers are abusive to employees rights......not only that but Tax withholding should be voluntary by the employee......keep your guns clean and your eyes peeled !!

Yea, exactly. So better you push for putting the horse in front of the cart and getting the civil rights issues sorted out so that pot isn't illegal in the first place and then you can light up and drive the fork-lift. Oh, but wait a minute! If you get to do whatever you want as an employee, then I guess your boss gets to do whatever he wants, like maybe not employ someone he suspects smokes dope? Oh my, what a vicious circle we are stuck in.

Everyone wants to do whatever they want to do and no body wants anyone else to tell them what to do, or be responsible for their fu*kups. Best as I know the last time that worked we were living in caves.

[6speedthumper]

As I've said several times before, I am all for the legalization of pot. I smoke, I enjoy it. I like being relaxed and not having that "edge" anymore. Have not had a problem functioning, and if I smoked more often I doubt I'd feel it much beyond it just helping me to be more calm and able to tolerate certain things/people because I won't get my back up. My pop has been smoking for nearly fifty years, still practices wake n' bake, and functions perfectly fine. He is on no prescription drugs AT ALL, unlike his siblings that are on two-three-four + prescription drugs for various "illnesses" that Marijuana would certainly help. And, they'd be healthier getting rid of all those OTC drugs.

Because of our society, and it's law makers, there will have to be a way to test, or, govern the use so people can get and hold jobs.

[fabiodriven]

This will more than likely sound somewhat redundant, as I posted about this subject last week in the Tony Stewart thread.

Right off the bat, I will say I am a purveyor of truth and honesty above all, and I will say that I use marijuana. All of what I speak is of my own personal experience, not of speculation, and not what has been drilled into my head by a government that probably makes billions from getting you hooked on their addictive and unhealthy drugs that they themselves have deemed legal.

I feel very strongly on this subject, and to El Camexican, whom I consider to be a very great friend, I am a bit insulted by your words. You are obviously a very educated or just naturally smart man, yet you close your mind to what is happening right in front of you and rather let the biggest drug cartel in the world (the US government) tell you what to think. Your jokes towards people who use marijuana are very generalized stereotypes which do not address us all as individuals, but rather lump us all into one big stupid group. We are not all late to work, we are not all stupid, and we don't cause traffic accidents, gas line explosions, or fatal shootings. Those would be the people that consume alcohol and pills that cause those kinds of issues and I'll thank you to not lump people such as myself in with a crowd like that.

As I've stated multiple times, those that speak out loudest against marijuana are most often those who know the least and have used it either never or barely at all. It's very obvious that your personal experience is lacking severely with the substance in question here El, as Mosh's experience is quite obviously limited as well. He made that quite obvious in last week's posts on this subject. Yet you are going to sit here and tell these people what a world of "stoners" would be like. What makes you qualified to foresee such a place? Where is your knowledge from? DOHC's point of view doesn't matter to me one bit, as the subject at hand could be soap making, heroin use, roofing, or soil contamination and he would be telling us what's what. The resident expert on everything...

This is a subject where I am very well educated. Over the years since returning from Iraq, the VA has always tried to cram pills down my throat. There were times when I gave in or thought I "needed" them and perhaps I did, but I have a life to compare in two very different treatments. One under the care of physicians and using the recommended dosages of pharmaceuticals, and one under my own care with the use of natural remedies. For those who know me, the results speak for themselves. For those frequent these boards and saw my thread posted roughly this time last year, you can see what a Fabio on chemical pharmaceuticals is like. That was the second "low point" I had been through after having been home, and that was my second time using chemicals to treat my PTSD. Those months while I was on drugs I didn't work, I didn't pay my mortgage, I didn't enjoy my hobbies, I didn't split nearly enough fire wood to get me through the winter, and I sat around feeling sorry for myself. I dug myself a gigantic hole and almost sold all of my belongings including my home and really didn't care to whom I owed what, where I would go, or what I would do. I was kind of a zombie that watched Netflix all day and shared too much personal information in these forums. Then one day I said to myself, "Things are going to change now". I didn't know how but I knew they were and the first step was to get off the drugs. I needed to improve myself physically and get my head back to where it should have been and needed to be. Inside of a month I got a job, caught up with the mortgage, was working out every day, and, most importantly, had a smile on my face and a direction to head.

I don't really think that many people are saying that marijuana should be legal to consume and then go run a crane as many people keep suggesting. I use marijuana when I get out of work and I do many things that require thought, care, and concentration. I use machines, vehicles, and engines, but on my own time. When I'm at work driving someone else's truck or on their dime I'm not using marijuana. That's not to say I couldn't, as I could, but the general consensus is that would not be a good idea and I'm not looking to make any waves. Up until about two months ago, I was driving dump trailers and tri-axle's in Boston every day, and that would require me to be in the truck between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning, and you better believe I was there on time if not early every day. Many times I would arrive far too early, as Boston traffic is extremely unpredictable and many times I was going to a site for the first time, so I would do push ups on the ground outside of the truck. My lunch pail had fresh fruit, yogurt, and a sandwich in it. Expecting twinkies and Coke? That wouldn't surprise me with all the cleche's being spouted.

I'm not sharing all of this in an effort to sway anyone or tell anyone what they should think, but I do take up a defense when such a helpful, harmless substance is attacked in this way after a lying entity tells you how evil it is, and you all believe it. Mosh's post the other day was literally laughable to me. You all think you know so much, the people who don't use marijuana. You think you're so smart and we're so dumb, but I'll type circles around you and out think you all high or not. When was the last "stoned driving" surge that caused so many injuries or deaths, or stoners forcibly taking stores at gunpoint, or getting in fights, or being anything other than happy and smiling? Let's go with what you all assume to be true, that we're just giggling idiots. So what? So we're not only happy but harmless, and this bothers so many why? Oh because Uncle Sam told you it should bother you. Good for you for listening. This pothead owns a home, drives a truck better than anyone, rides pretty durned good, can build, think, makes himself an asset at work, works hard, works out, goes to work every day, has been to war, has many peoples' lives at the tips of his fingers, has done more than many of you, and is just getting warm. There are many, many people that you haters deal with on a daily basis who use marijuana and you're none the wiser, but you'd judge them if you knew. You're all so hooked into the machine it's amazing to me. I've said this before as well and I want people to seriously consider it.

Marijuana is a natural herb made from a plant. It has no addicting properties and very few ill effects on the human body and mind.

Pharmaceutical drugs are made from man-made chemicals that harm the body and mind and are addictive. Having spent far too much time around people on these drugs and an appetite for knowledge has caused me to study the behavior of people on such drugs. Their first problem is that they're addicted but what makes it even worse is they all want to justify that addiction, they all want to be addicted. It's the pinnacle of technology which is the culmination of years of study, experience, experiments, and untold amounts of money in order to... Make more money! It works like a charm as you can see. One industry that will never have any problems financially is the drug industry. It is recession proof and reaches all corners of the population, everyone is on drugs. I've seen people who forget how to do everyday activities, don't know how to do things that are way below their level of comprehension, and blurt things out that they don't mean to say because they don't realize they're talking or lack the filter to tell them what's appropriate to say and what's not. I am absolutely sick and tired of saying things to people who are high on chemicals and have it go in one ear and out the other. I'm sick of having to show someone how to do something that started out as them showing me how to do it, until we realize they forgot how to do it (and what day it is) and I've just figured it out on my own. I am sick and friggin tired of watching people I love flush their lives, minds, and bodies down the toilet while I catch for smoking pot as I care for them, guide them, and beg them to stop ruining their lives and continue to improve my own. All because they have a piece of paper from the same entity that's making the chemicals telling them it's OK to use their chemicals, but I can't use my own natural remedy that harms nobody and only benefits me greatly. You people are brainwashed to the tenth degree and have no idea. You accuse people such as myself as being silly and lackadaisical yet you all come on here and make jokes about my life choices.

I've seen so many lives ruined by alcohol, so many fights, car crashes, domestics, late to work or no-show, puking, surly, passing out, aggressive friggin retards, yet that's OK by you all. So many pill heads saying things that make absolutely no sense, doing things that they'd be ashamed of if I had recorded them, not knowing what day it is, surprised you showed up after you just spent the last 3 hours with them, confusing dawn for dusk, mouth going without knowing... It hurts to see those I love in this condition and it is an absolute epidemic. It is inescapable, I am utterly surrounded by it. It makes me sick to my stomach to see so many I love in this state and on top of it I'm to take from those who don't know the first thing of which they speak, telling me what's wrong with my natural choice to improve my life and why I shouldn't be happy. Should I go back to being miserable such as those on the chemicals or beverage? That would be acceptable by you all? Does it sound like I've lost my attention span to any of you? Do you think I'm eating Cheetos right now? I just at a piece of sword fish accompanied by couscous, spinach, tomatoes, and broccoli. I use a log grapple at work in very tight quarters which could rip electrical wires down or squash a man before he even knew it was coming. I drive trucks that weigh in at 120,000 lbs in places that many people can't drive a car. I get up before you to do it, and I work on things while you're watching TV on the couch in the evening. I have a beautiful girlfriend and a great life, and I use marijuana. I'm not the butt of your joke, I am the living proof you all are wrong. Now please, use that organ between your ears and think for yourselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMM_T_PJ0Rs

[tripledog]

I doobie leaf I will be watching this thread.