G-Dog
New Member
Urinalysis is a form of discrimination and an absolute violation of your civil liberties. But we accept this in our country to insure our safety.
Urinalysis does not prove impairment. One can smoke some marijuana at a party or concert and a month later show positive for the metabolites that are enough to put a person in jail, cost their job, or be the deciding factor in a child custody battle. It can mean a lot and be the deciding factor in many critical decisions in one's life. But it does not prove one is impaired at the moment of testing.
Suppose you have an accident at work. The old saying, "accidents happen" is something that we have all heard, and they do. If you have an accident at work you are very likely to be required to give a urine sample so that they can blame the accident on you and your abuse of drugs over faulty policies or machinery. In this way liability can be shifted to the employee. It is a business matter. Although urinalysis does not prove impairment, it is proof enough that you are a drug abuser and responsible for that accident.
What is particularly alarming about urinalysis is it's sensitivity to marijuana. One can take just about any other drug, those that we consider hard drugs, yet pass a urinalysis within a couple days of use. Marijuana metabolites can stay in your system for weeks. It is almost as if they are trying to weed a certain type of person out of society. Many responsible citizens are discriminated against because they choose to not be sheep. They are selected out of a many industries via pre-employment drug screening. As a result we are keeping the free thinkers out of key roles that steer our culture.
Who are some of these free thinkers they want out? How about John Lennon, Bill Clinton, Bill Maher, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs and myself. The list is far too large for the scope of this discussion and includes tens of millions worldwide.
We talk and talk about the 4th amendment, but allow such an intrusive and unwarranted search of one of our most intimate details. How can such a thing be?
Marijuana use has been around since the beginning of mankind. Evidence of it's use continues to surface in the oldest of artifacts. It's importance placed rather high as it was buried with individuals to use in the afterlife. However, urinalysis appeared in the early1980s. It became a tool to sort out the free thinkers and set them aside. About the same time that John Lennon died.
I joined the US Navy in 1980 to see the world and marijuana was already big part of my life. I wanted to go to places like Thailand and the Philippines to get high with an ancient society. At the point of my joining the US Navy I was asked all kinds of intrusive questions; was I gay, a midget, did I smoke marijuana. My recruiter winked at me and told me that nobody cares, just say what they want to hear. Once I was in the navy I met a lot of great guys. We traveled together and got high all over the place. The leadership at the time turned a blind eye to us as we were positive contributors, easy going, and just nice guys. We were easy to spot, we parted what little hair we had in the middle.
On 26 May 1981, an EA-6B Prowler crashed on the flight deck, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others. Forensic testing conducted found that several members of the deceased flight deck crew tested positive for marijuana. As a result of this incident, President Ronald Reagan instituted a "Zero Tolerance" drug policy across all of the armed services, which started the mandatory drug testing of all U.S. service personnel. The top admiral in the navy, Chief of Naval Operations made a video that all naval personnel were required to watch, stating that nobody in the US Navy would be smoking marijuana. His words were, "Not on my watch, not on my ship, not in my navy." Soon after that video urinalysis had begun. Like robots all navy personnel were required to rat each other out. The slightest suspicion that one was using would result in drug testing. Many sailors were ruined from this policy. I got out of the navy in 1983 badly bruised from the drug policy, but not beaten.
Ronald Reagan was the president and his zero tolerance for drugs reached outside of the armed forces and soon worked itself into the workplace. Federal contracts were denied to any employer that did that toe this line. Soon enough the insurance companies had seen that this was a way to deny benefits to a percentage of their claims and got on board. It was an explosion of civil rights in America and lives on today.
Urinalysis does not prove impairment. One can smoke some marijuana at a party or concert and a month later show positive for the metabolites that are enough to put a person in jail, cost their job, or be the deciding factor in a child custody battle. It can mean a lot and be the deciding factor in many critical decisions in one's life. But it does not prove one is impaired at the moment of testing.
Suppose you have an accident at work. The old saying, "accidents happen" is something that we have all heard, and they do. If you have an accident at work you are very likely to be required to give a urine sample so that they can blame the accident on you and your abuse of drugs over faulty policies or machinery. In this way liability can be shifted to the employee. It is a business matter. Although urinalysis does not prove impairment, it is proof enough that you are a drug abuser and responsible for that accident.
What is particularly alarming about urinalysis is it's sensitivity to marijuana. One can take just about any other drug, those that we consider hard drugs, yet pass a urinalysis within a couple days of use. Marijuana metabolites can stay in your system for weeks. It is almost as if they are trying to weed a certain type of person out of society. Many responsible citizens are discriminated against because they choose to not be sheep. They are selected out of a many industries via pre-employment drug screening. As a result we are keeping the free thinkers out of key roles that steer our culture.
Who are some of these free thinkers they want out? How about John Lennon, Bill Clinton, Bill Maher, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs and myself. The list is far too large for the scope of this discussion and includes tens of millions worldwide.
We talk and talk about the 4th amendment, but allow such an intrusive and unwarranted search of one of our most intimate details. How can such a thing be?
Marijuana use has been around since the beginning of mankind. Evidence of it's use continues to surface in the oldest of artifacts. It's importance placed rather high as it was buried with individuals to use in the afterlife. However, urinalysis appeared in the early1980s. It became a tool to sort out the free thinkers and set them aside. About the same time that John Lennon died.
I joined the US Navy in 1980 to see the world and marijuana was already big part of my life. I wanted to go to places like Thailand and the Philippines to get high with an ancient society. At the point of my joining the US Navy I was asked all kinds of intrusive questions; was I gay, a midget, did I smoke marijuana. My recruiter winked at me and told me that nobody cares, just say what they want to hear. Once I was in the navy I met a lot of great guys. We traveled together and got high all over the place. The leadership at the time turned a blind eye to us as we were positive contributors, easy going, and just nice guys. We were easy to spot, we parted what little hair we had in the middle.
On 26 May 1981, an EA-6B Prowler crashed on the flight deck, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others. Forensic testing conducted found that several members of the deceased flight deck crew tested positive for marijuana. As a result of this incident, President Ronald Reagan instituted a "Zero Tolerance" drug policy across all of the armed services, which started the mandatory drug testing of all U.S. service personnel. The top admiral in the navy, Chief of Naval Operations made a video that all naval personnel were required to watch, stating that nobody in the US Navy would be smoking marijuana. His words were, "Not on my watch, not on my ship, not in my navy." Soon after that video urinalysis had begun. Like robots all navy personnel were required to rat each other out. The slightest suspicion that one was using would result in drug testing. Many sailors were ruined from this policy. I got out of the navy in 1983 badly bruised from the drug policy, but not beaten.
Ronald Reagan was the president and his zero tolerance for drugs reached outside of the armed forces and soon worked itself into the workplace. Federal contracts were denied to any employer that did that toe this line. Soon enough the insurance companies had seen that this was a way to deny benefits to a percentage of their claims and got on board. It was an explosion of civil rights in America and lives on today.
