According to a new analysis of 10 million drug tests by Quest Diagnostics, 4 percent more U.S. workers tested positive for marijuana in 2017 than 2016. This finding reflects similar increases observed among the general population following the legalization of marijuana for recreational and medicinal use in states like Colorado.
But here’s what worries me the most…
Marijuana use increased by 8 percent among safety-sensitive workers — including airline pilots, air traffic controllers, and nuclear power plant technicians — during that same year.
One news story I saw about the analysis said airline pilots and nuclear power plant technicians are “most at risk.”
So ¾ doesn’t that mean we’re all “at risk” now?
Not to mention, traffic fatalities involving marijuana have already doubled in states following legalization. So, in a sense, you were already at risk in these states — at least if you were getting on the road.
But now it seems we may all be on the road to perdition — led by intoxicated pilots, air traffic controllers, train conductors, truck drivers, and nuclear power plant technicians.
Yikes!
Many of these people smoking marijuana seem to think it’s healthy because it’s an herb. However, research shows that marijuana smoke is three times more dangerous than tobacco smoke, as I recently reported.
Not to mention a slew of other harmful side effects, ranging from heartbeat abnormalities to brain shrinkage to mental illness. (Meanwhile, tobacco or nicotine hasn’t been shown to cause any of those clear-and-present dangers.)
Tragically, the marijuana legalization insanity has spread to nine states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington) and Washington, D.C. In addition, 13 other states have decriminalized marijuana use, but not made it fully legal.
It took just 13 states to begin the United States of America. And I now fear another 13 may bring it down.
Sources:
“Workforce Drug Positivity at Highest Rate in a Decade, Finds Analysis of More Than 10 Million Drug Test Results,” Quest Diagnostics (www.questdiagnostics.com) 5/8/2018
“Drugs in the workplace are at their highest levels in a decade,” Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) 5/22/2018