positive for pot

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2016

I never was into Pot even though most of my college friends were. I grew up in California around the entertainment industry in my 20's but I just couldn't smoke it right to get the desired effect. Booze was my thing and later benzos and pain pills. I was never drunk or altered at work and only got caught when I tried to kill myself. Still I would not what a nurse who was a black out drunk on their days off to be taking care of me or those I love. Most nurse practice acts specifically address the use of both legal and illegal substances and the effects such you can have on your licensure. Most of us "Real" addicts actually need to have our lives completely rearranged in order to get well.
Hppy

I honestly don't know where you're going with this. My recreational drinking was 24/7 including on the job so I probably qualify as more of a "real addict" than you do. I needed help and I needed someone else to provide the accountability in early sobriety which my monitoring program did and I am thankful for that.

However, I don't see a therapist which I might find helpful however I would have to sign a wide-open HIPAA waiver and I don't want my crazy (of which there is a lot) leaking over into my monitoring program. Early in my program, I was placed on lamictal - this drug literally saved my life - but predictably tested positive for PCP during a UA. I was treated like a liar before the GC/MS and was treated like a liar AFTER the GC/MS because my monitor did not like the way the report was formatted. I almost lost my license over that. I didn't need that rearrangement, either.

CryssyD · Jan 19, 2016

This is one of the (many) things that irritates me about the whole monitoring thing. There seems to be no interest in even trying to weed out (pun really wasn't originally intended!) the recreational, non-problem users. Not every user of a substance is a danger, to him/herself or anyone else (as long as they get someone else to drive them to the convenience store for munchies). There is no attempt to separate the problem users from the normal recreational users, which forces me to the conclusion that the programs are either taking the position that there is no difference (which no responsible addiction specialist should believe), or that it's OK for the programs to be simply punitive (since the recreational user really doesn't need rehab/counseling/NA). And to me, that's NOT OK--these programs shouldn't be allowed to serve as extrajudicial punishment--that's not their place.

messica8 · Jan 20, 2016

The same exact thing happen to me. I made a narcotic error and was drug tested. I tested positive for pot and negative for everything else. I was forced into a rehab program through my work. They reported me to the board. Now I have a consent agreement with the nursing board. I didn't lose my license. I am on probation for two years. I do random drug testing and had a complete a few things to keep my license. You'll be fine. Keep your head up and do whatever the board asks of you. They are going to make you jump through hoops to keep your license.. but keep jumping!

angelmomjr · Jan 24, 2016

This is one of the (many) things that irritates me about the whole monitoring thing. There seems to be no interest in even trying to weed out (pun really wasn't originally intended!) the recreational, non-problem users. Not every user of a substance is a danger, to him/herself or anyone else (as long as they get someone else to drive them to the convenience store for munchies). There is no attempt to separate the problem users from the normal recreational users, which forces me to the conclusion that the programs are either taking the position that there is no difference (which no responsible addiction specialist should believe), or that it's OK for the programs to be simply punitive (since the recreational user really doesn't need rehab/counseling/NA). And to me, that's NOT OK--these programs shouldn't be allowed to serve as extrajudicial punishment--that's not their place.

My only difficulty with what you have said is if a nurse is at work and tests positive for ANYTHING, they are impaired. Does not matter if it is recreational or regular use, you are impaired while caring for patients. I would not want to be cared for or have a family member cared for by an impaired RN, MD, respiratory therapist, PT, CNA, etc. I'm "one of those" nurses and in retrospect I can only hope that my care was as good as possible.

CryssyD · Feb 1, 2016

My only difficulty with what you have said is if a nurse is at work and tests positive for ANYTHING, they are impaired. Does not matter if it is recreational or regular use, you are impaired while caring for patients. I would not want to be cared for or have a family member cared for by an impaired RN, MD, respiratory therapist, PT, CNA, etc. I'm "one of those" nurses and in retrospect I can only hope that my care was as good as possible.

Have to disagree, respectfully. You will test (by urine screening) positive for alcohol for days; you will test positive for marijuana for a month or more. You are not impaired days or weeks post-ingestion.

I wouldn't want impaired people taking care of my dog, let alone my family. I'm totally with you on that.

BTW--what is "one of those" nurses? :unsure:

1sttime · Feb 1, 2016

I wouldn't want impaired people taking care of my dog, let alone my family. I'm totally with you on that.

People can be impaired by many things:

All of those times my manager did not care I was working with a migraine- impaired

All of the nurses who are constantly distracted by their phones or Facebook- impaired

Hung over- impaired

Being a medical professional means being healthy and focused on the patient, I would be curious how many medical errors come from these other impaired factors, and why nobody passes judgement or seems to care...