Nurses smoking weed?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey nurses,

In honor of "420" tomorrow... As a health-care professional, what are your thoughts on smoking weed? Any nurses out there that smoke a joint here and there?

Cheers.

Like many of the other posters here, I have no moral objection to marijuana and consider it safer than alcohol. However, I do not use it because I value my nursing license. I do personally think that the professional repercussions for using marijuana are overly severe in nursing. I have discussed this issue with friends and acquaintances in other professions such as doctors, lawyers, physical therapists, psychologists, teachers and engineers, they are shocked to hear that nurses can lose their careers due to using marijuana. They report feeling no such risk.

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Like many of the other posters here, I have no moral objection to marijuana and consider it safer than alcohol. However, I do not use it because I value my nursing license. I do personally think that the professional repercussions for using marijuana are overly severe in nursing. I have discussed this issue with friends and acquaintances in other professions such as doctors, lawyers, physical therapists, psychologists, teachers and engineers, they are shocked to hear that nurses can lose their careers due to using marijuana. They report feeling no such risk.

My post above shows that you can lose your career in the energy sector. My D's friend has suffered a HUGE setback. It remains to be seen if he can recover. I'm sick FOR him, losing out on a job with a 125K starting salary.

I think one of the reasons that this is treated so harshly in nursing is that, unlike most other professions, nurses have daily access to other mind altering drugs. There is the fear (accurate or not), that a nurse who is into illegal mind altering drugs such as pot will be more likely to divert other mind altering drugs like opioids or benzos. Lawyers, psychologists, teachers, and engineers aren't constantly around drugs all day like nurses are. And being impaired on the job doesn't usually have the potential to cause harm in many professions as it does in nursing (though certainly dangerous if a doctor or an engineer is working while impaired).

It's not necessarily logical.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
Hey nurses,

In honor of "420" tomorrow... As a health-care professional, what are your thoughts on smoking weed? Any nurses out there that smoke a joint here and there?

Cheers.

Not my cup of tea, thanks--I tried it once, and it never did anything for me other than make me hungry.

If others choose to do it, it's their choice...but it would be a foolish decision to show up to work stoned. And it would be foolish for the user to believe that there wouldn't be possible consequences from using that they'd have to deal with.

Others have already pointed out the risks to your job and licensure...and yes, that risk is alive and well in California, Colorado, Washington, and other pot-friendly states.

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Specializes in Hospice.
Over 60- Jensmom7 flava! :woot:

Lol not quite over 60 yet, but definitely in the ballpark.

Tried weed a few times in college (as someone else said, hey, it was the 70s). Wasn't impressed, and the time it made me paranoid as hell wasn't exactly a laugh fest.

I did get an ounce of home-grown from a friend as a graduation present. That was a gift I never got around to showing mom and dad lol.

Would I smoke now? Nope. It just doesn't interest me. I don't really drink, either. My husband says I'm the cheapest date he ever had; he figures he's spent about $100 on me for liquor over the last 34 years.

Do I disapprove of anyone else smoking weed? Only if you try to do it in my home-not wild about the smell.

If you're reckless enough to toke up knowing you could be subject to a random drug screen at any time while at work, then you need to accept the consequences when you test positive.

As a side note, a medical marijuana shop is opening near me, called "Windy City Weed". It's about a block away from a restaurant called "Windy City Subs". Coincidence?? I think not...

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Don't care what you ingest unless you drive a car or operate dangerous machinery impaired and harm others. Then I care alot. Honor that.

Why do people assume that any and all drugs cause impairment? With regard to marijuana, most people put it in the same category as alcohol or opoids which is absolutely incorrect. Completely different drug and effect. Some drugs actually ENHANCE cognitive functioning such as stimulants.

Not enough research is done on marijuana and the brain, but in my opinion, a chronic marijuana user is perfectly safe on the road and competent to go to work in any profession under moderate doses. If anything, they drive extra slow and cautious because they are so paranoid about getting pulled over.

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Not enough research is done on marijuana and the brain, but in my opinion, a chronic marijuana user is perfectly safe on the road and competent to go to work in any profession under moderate doses. If anything, they drive extra slow and cautious because they are so paranoid about getting pulled over.

I hope you're joking here, driving under the influence of any substance is dangerous. I'd love to see studies on the so called moderate doses you speak of, also I would love to know if you'd let a brain surgeon operate on you after smoking a joint :) would you?

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Specializes in ER.

It's safer than other chemicals that we can put in our body. However, I wouldn't risk it. Technically work can drug test me for legal substances like nicotine what do you think they will do if I pop positive for marijuana?

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I hope you're joking here, driving under the influence of any substance is dangerous. I'd love to see studies on the so called moderate doses you speak of, also I would love to know if you'd let a brain surgeon operate on you after smoking a joint :) would you?

Yeah, I hope that was satire as well.

Marijuana does impair our reflexes and thought-processes . . . and no, I wouldn't want a brain surgeon or any surgeon operating on me after imbibing in weed.

I still don't understand why putting smoke in your lungs is considered safer than having a glass of wine at dinner? Again, unless you are an alcoholic and over-imbibing in alcohol, putting smoke in your lungs seems more dangerous than alcohol, in moderation.

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Funnily enough . . .just came across this.

Heavy, persistent pot use linked to economic and social problems at midlife

A research study that followed children from birth up to age 38 has found that people who smoked cannabis four or more days of the week over many years ended up in a lower social class than their parents, with lower-paying, less skilled and less prestigious jobs than those who were not regular cannabis smokers. These regular and persistent users also experienced more financial, work-related and relationship difficulties, which worsened as the number of years of regular cannabis use progressed.

Our research does not support arguments for or against cannabis legalization,” said Cerdá, first author of the study and an epidemiologist at the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program. But it does show that cannabis was not safe for the long-term users tracked in our study.”

Read the whole thing . . . I keep wanting to put quotes here but will leave it to you to read. The alcohol vs. pot issue is there as well.

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I still don't understand why putting smoke in your lungs is considered safer than having a glass of wine at dinner? Again unless you are an alcoholic and over-imbibing in alcohol, putting smoke in your lungs seems more dangerous than alcohol, in moderation.[/quote']

Perhaps they meant to say that putting smoke in your lungs is safer than putting alcohol in your lungs?

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When marijuanna is legal, when using it nowhere near a shift won't endanger my career, and when I am down for testing whether I'll get all the nasty side effects, I MAY try it. At this point in my life, no schedule I substance has ever entered my body, and I'm ok with that.

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Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.

Yeah, I think there is general agreement that the whole thing is eye-roll worthy, but it is what it is. Right now we live in a country that routinely employs drug testing for nurses, and you never know when you might have a sentinel event or end up with a narc discrepancy- it's not worth it. You have to be ready to pee in that cup at a moment's notice.

It's not right, and it singles out pot smokers because most other drugs clear so much faster. But for now, smoking pot as an RN is a risky decision.

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