Nurses Who Smoke Marijuana

[NenaRK]

I am currently taking my prerequisites for Nursing. I know two nurses, one is a friend of my mothers and she is a Nurse Practitioner and my boyfriend's mother is a charge nurse in the ICU. Both of them smoke Marijuana (occasionally) and they haven't had any issues with their career. Although I have seen a thread on allnurses talking about a woman being fired from her job because she tested positive for Marijuana during a random drug test at work. So my question is, why do some people get FIRED for smoking marijuana but some don't and continue to advance in their career with no issues? Is it just because they didn't get caught through drug testing? Do Nurses know when their employers will be giving drug tests or how often?

Thanks!

[itsnowornever, BSN, RN]

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I cant argue anymore. Dave, look at the CDCs website and also your states website. It shows how many thousands of people die from drunk driving. Believe what you want I guess. Just because its legal it is still dangerous. What is your book called? I would like to read it.

I'm talking about use marijuana recreationally. Not for medicinal purposes. I'm not trying to compare it to vicodine.. Also the only reason why people get shot over pot is because it is illegal. There is such a large demand for it and drug dealers are willing to take drastic measures to make a profit. If pot is made legal and taken off the black market then that is one very large income drug that is taken out of the drug dealers hands. You guys will just have to watch and see what happens in Colorado and Washington. Because the legislation is currently going into effect.

To jwmwinter I am sorry you had a drug problem. I have a buddy who can not stop using narcotics right now. He is in denial big time. But marijuana is just so harmless. Much less than alcohol.

I am a 23 yr old med surg RN by the way.

Nick

Long post from someone who can't argue anymore.

Posting from my phone, ease forgive my fat thumbs! ?

[Alisonisayoshi, LVN]

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Yes but there is one particular poster who will INSIST that it's harmless. ?

Posting from my phone, ease forgive my fat thumbs! ?

It's my biggest pet peeve, "oh it's harmless!" Come live in the Emerald Triangle for a few months, tell me it's not hurting anybody. Come check out our transient trimmer (people who process pot for sale) population, they are usually getting high outside the Walmart on the lawn. Come see our understaffed sheriffs and town cops fight a losing battle to gang violence they never saw pre-legalization.

[SuzieVN]

Even if they made pot legal, at the federal level, next Monday? No BON will recognize that for 50 years, or maybe a thousand years? And even if the feds did that, made it legal you can still be arrested for DUI if it is in your system. It's not worth even thinking about using pot, at all- or even thinking about driving after a single drink. Also, typical of Americans- people condone their drug of choice, and condemn anyone's else's?

[TXRN2]

I must say, this has been a most interesting thread!!

[SuzieVN]

It's been raising a few hackles, fer sure!

[tewdles, RN]

People have very strong feelings about death, taxes, politics, ... and marijuana...LOL

[TXRN2]

HaHa!! evidently!!

[edmia, BSN, RN]

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I am dismayed that the nurse who had a legal medical marijuana card was not hired because of it...

Would that also have been true if the nurse had tested postive for ativan or some other med for which he/she had an RX?

Like the other medications included on the drug screens, marijuana actually has proven medical benefit for some people in some circumstances, often with fewer side effects than other more "traditional" medications.

so sad...

Completely agree tewdles. It's discriminating against a medical condition. We just have to wait for society to understand that marihuana is a safe drug for many conditions.

Just wanted to mention that my job did not ask me to sign anything regarding random drug testing. One test before employment and that's it. Unless there's a reason, of course.

On principle though, I would never agree to a random drug test. Even if I lose my job for it. Not ok to invade my privacy if I am not impaired at work.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[edmia, BSN, RN]

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I just want to mention there are side effects and consequences to pot. Sorry to burst a smokers bubble, but there are. Currently pot is decriminalized. In some states it's even "legal" for medical use (where I live the Feds are suing our county to put an end to reckless medical use and growth but its currently legal).

Here's my b@$ch about pot: hey did you know your casual use is a blight on MY community? Yup it is. My cute, picturesque, small town is now overrun by MS13. We have murders, assaults, and skyrocketing crime rates all relating to pot. Pot is big business. So that joint you are smoking, that one joint? Yeah just know somebody might have been murdered for that. Seems crazy just for pot, but this cash crop is poisoning the land and water, it's inciting violence, and it's doing it in SOMEONE'S back yard.

Please don't act like its some victimless crime to smoke. It's not.

You're right. But that's exactly why criminalization does not work. This would not be an issue at all if the production and distribution was regulated ( and taxed!).

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

One of the big problems about legalizing MJ is that unlike alcohol (whose effects at certain BAC levels are pretty well known), there is no level of MJ/THC that can be easily correlated with some level of impairment. On top of that, it is known that MJ contains more THC now than it did back in the '60's, and even then the dose of THC you get each time you use MJ isn't very predictable, nor is the clearance rate.

Alcohol is a factor in many traffic deaths. Alcohol is pretty easy to detect. THC isn't, and there's no field expedient method by which your blood level of THC can be checked and since there's no known dose that correlates well with likely impairment (like with alcohol), it's probably quite difficult to substantiate a traffic fatality being directly caused by MJ impairment.

So, just because there are relatively few recorded traffic fatalities as compared to alcohol-related fatalities, don't assume that the number of MJ-related traffic fatalities is 0.

Now as to the legalization problem... alcohol is legal, and has been for quite a few decades. Showing up even a little buzzed at work is just absolutely going to do wonders for your career as a nurse. If there was some easy test and some presumptive level that indicated impairment right then, it probably would be "easier" to legalize MJ, but just because the stuff would then be legal to use, doesn't mean that it would be a good idea to show up to work with it in your system... just in exactly the same way that alcohol is treated.

My comments above are not to be construed in any manner whatsoever as to whether or not I think MJ should be legalized. It's simply to point out the problems associated with use of a mind-altering recreational drug (of which both MJ and EtOH are).

[SuzieVN]

Enlightened view, you have. But as far as marijuana being hard to detect? A simple blood test, for one (whether pulled over, or ordered to drop a sample on the job, etc.). For another- there are devices being made that, attached to a flashlight or clipboard (like the new ambient alcohol detectors), can detect minute particles of sustances in your exhaled breath. So, be in fear of a roadblock, being pulled over for a cracked windshield, or etc. if you smoke that stuff. The problem is that THC can be detected for months, it's just not known- and the tests keep getting more creative. The risk to a nursing license just simply cannot be exaggerated.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

SuzieVN said:

Enlightened view, you have. But as far as marijuana being hard to detect? A simple blood test, for one (whether pulled over, or ordered to drop a sample on the job, etc.). For another- there are devices being made that, attached to a flashlight or clipboard (like the new ambient alcohol detectors), can detect minute particles of sustances in your exhaled breath. So, be in fear of a roadblock, being pulled over for a cracked windshield, or etc. if you smoke that stuff. The problem is that THC can be detected for months, it's just not known- and the tests keep getting more creative. The risk to a nursing license just simply cannot be exaggerated.

Enlightened view? That I don't know... Educated view, I suspect that I do. Like I said above, blood tests, breath tests, whatever... yes, it's very possible to detect THC in the body for a VERY long time after exposure. The problem is that there isn't any test that I know of that says that a person is presumptively under the influence of THC, not like alcohol. So the only thing that anyone could use for DUI (or working under the influence) is objective signs that may show during an FST. Otherwise, they simply check for the presence of THC and can only presume that if the drug is detected, the person has taken the drug at some point in the past. Clearing THC from the body takes a long time, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it's fat soluble, not water soluble. And that's a problem with all fat soluble drugs that I know of...

As to the tests getting more and more creative, it's not so much that, it's that the tests become both more sensitive and cheaper. What was previously an undetectable level is now easily detectable. If you don't do the stuff... you'll never have to worry about those random tests... ever.