Question about marijuana use as a nurse

Nurses Professionalism

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I used to use marijuana only as a recreational drug, recently it was prescribed to me due to anxiety and lack of appetite. If you have a prescription to marijuana and you test positive on a drug screening, would you still be allowed to work? Would an application for employment be denied?

Personally, I think that you should be able to. I believe that you should be able to do whatever you want during your off hours, as long as it is not affecting your performance at work, whether that is going home and having a few beers, or smoking a joint.

Honestly, I feel more in control of myself and a lot safer when using marijuana over drinking alcohol. Going into the nursing field really does take a special kind of person that wants to help people. If we didn't have the genuine desire to help, most likely, we would not have made it through school.

I would never come into work high any more than I would come into work drunk, so it wouldn't affect the way that I treat patients. Why would I enter a field to help people, just to hinder my performance and actually put them in harms way? There are restrictions on marijuana just like there are on any other prescription drug, just like the "do not operate heavy machinery" restriction. If it is legal, prescribed, and not affecting me at work, I don't think that my license should be at stake.

Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

I was asked a while ago about reliability of EMIT bioassay tests and found out that, at least theoretically, things like NSAIDs, proton pump inhibitors like Protonix and high doses of B2 vitamin can cause false-positives for MJ. I then asked several of professors and instructors about the matter, and they all say the same thing: if you tested positively for whatever drug, you, in theory, are entitled to having secondary testing under controlled circumstances. But it is expensive for employer and promises legal mess ahead, and there are probably 50 more willing candidates who have no such worries... go figure and up to your retirement day choose alternative drugs and treatments when available.

The talk was in state where MM is legal and its use is common.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I don't know the answer, but I'm sure most places would frown on marijuana even if prescribed. Seems to be an unusual treatment for anxiety, in fact, it can cause a paranoid reaction. Also is associated with memory problems which would make school difficult! Lastly if you have an anxiety problem you will most likely find nursing very stressful and anxiety producing. I would consider a different way to make a living.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Oncology, Epic CT.

Personally, I think that you should be able to. I believe that you should be able to do whatever you want during your off hours, as long as it is not affecting your performance at work, whether that is going home and having a few beers, or smoking a joint.

I am but a nursing student still, but I have worked in a hospital and a home health setting as a pharmacy tech for three years and the colleagues I worked with - fellow pharmacy techs, pharmacists, and nurses alike would all agree - that yes, you are free to do what you wish, but it would be wise to monitor what you do, because after all, you are in a very transparent field and the health care social circle is a small world.

In other words, that is your reputation on the line.

As to how this applies to your situation, as many others have stated in this forum, it is best to check with not only the BON, but your employer's policies. If they don't seem to mesh with your current situation, then you should consider two options: change it (as in, go on another prescription) or choose another field that will tolerate it.

Best of luck to you either way.

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Specializes in Oncology.

Someone who drinks regularly becomes slow, they lose brain cells. Have you ever met someone who regularly smokes marijuana? They're not the brightest or the fastest to the draw on anything. I say no pothead nurses. If you wanna toke up, go work at Taco Bell.

And like I said before, if the only thing that helps your "anxiety" and "appetite" is marijuana, you've got serious problems to deal with to begin with. My guess is just that it's a big fat EXCUSE. Especially since you used it recreationally before and admitted it.

Professionals are held to a higher standard. I don't want people who smoke weed working with me or with any patients. It's a safety issue, besides that I find it to be morally abhorrent, personally. So many people think drugs are the end all be all. I say get a life. If you can't have fun without getting high, you got problems.

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Specializes in Oncology, Med/Surg, Hospice, Case Mgmt..

If a pot head works at taco bell, won't they eat all of the supply and put them out of business? Hahahaha....just joking.

Seriously, though, I think most hospitals would not only frown on nurses smoking pot, I would imagine it could possibly be a liability. If a nurse has marijuana in her system and she makes a serious error and it was discovered that she may have been impaired....big problem for the hospital. They may face a serious level of responsibility for knowingly hiring a nurse who smokes pot, prescription or not. They don't even want to think about the issues that could arise from that, especially when they can just hire another nurse who is not a pot smoker. If you make it through the hiring process and drug screen without them knowing, you may be able to get away with it, if you are very careful and do it only in your off time. However, if there are ever any suspicions, you may end up facing a random drug screen and then the party's over. Mary Jane stays in the system a long, long time. If you are upfront in an interview about your prescription, I doubt if any facilities would hire you. They're gonna go for the other nurse.

So, as others have said, if you want to have a career as a nurse, you may have to give it up.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

More fuel for thought.....what happens when the anxiety kicks in at work? Can you just go burn a quick one and come back to work....

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More fuel for thought.....what happens when the anxiety kicks in at work? Can you just go burn a quick one and come back to work....

That is the first thing I thought! Being at work as a nurse on a busy floor causes anxiety!

Good advice here - whether you think it should be legalized or not, this risks your license and as Viva said, it isn't worth the risk. I live in California and there are so many unscrupulous docs here that give out 215 cards like Halloween candy. It is just an excuse to get high - not a real medical issue. That bugs me.

I have hospice patients who use it - I have no problem with that.

(Viva - you LIKE THE SMELL!??:bluecry1: )

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I think this is a valid concern. Like others have said on here, it's really up to what your state BON dictates. But.....alcohol and plenty of common legal medications are the top causes of driving under the influence and any other sort of activity that requires concentration. If this marijuana is legal, what makes it any different from those other substances? The stigma? If anyone is scared of being under the influence, put down the cocktails and Ativan. Hell, put down the Nyquil and Benadryl too! Don't forget to get some sleep, also. That way we are all on the same plane.

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.
What you believe and what the BON in your state believes can be two very different things, and if you have to go before the board, I'm sure they won't care what you think. Unfortunate, but true.
First answer was short & to the point. Whether its a benign substance or not is irrelevant if your BON views anyone needing this Rx as being unfit to practice safely.
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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
That is the first thing I thought! Being at work as a nurse on a busy floor causes anxiety!

Good advice here - whether you think it should be legalized or not, this risks your license and as Viva said, it isn't worth the risk. I live in California and there are so many unscrupulous docs here that give out 215 cards like Halloween candy. It is just an excuse to get high - not a real medical issue. That bugs me.

I have hospice patients who use it - I have no problem with that.

(Viva - you LIKE THE SMELL!??:bluecry1: )

Yeah......my SIL and dh sometimes sit out on the back porch and smoke a bowl. I used to go out there and sniff the air when they lit up, just because I do love the smell......at least until my psych told me to stop because any contact with MJ is apt to make my bipolar worse. (I still don't know how the man wrung that confession out of me---he'd have made a great detective.) Well, that's the last thing in the world I need, so I stay away from the stuff completely now and have given up the idea that I can ever go back to it, even after I retire. It's not worth risking my license OR my mental health.:no:

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Specializes in ICU/PACU.

If you're smoking on your off days you will test positive. There's no way of knowing when a hospital screens you for drugs if you are using only on your off days, you will just show up positive. What, are they suppose to take your word for it that you don't use while doing patient care? Even with a prescription you can't use that excuse. That can't be chanced when it comes to taking care of a person and having their lives in your hands. A hospital or the BON isn't willing to take that chance.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, ICU, ER.

Morally abhorrent?. I bet you'd be a ton of fun at a cocktail party. But you probably don't go to those either. :sarcastic:

I agree that the state BON and employer really end up with the final say. The wise would think that use of marijuana, prescribed or not, is taking a risk and should be calculated in context of what his or her license is worth. For me, not worth it... and my state is one of the ones that is (probably) going to legalize it in November.

I find it interesting that the OP is absent in this discussion after stirring up the hornets' nest.

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