Telling

[Mrstrish]

The thread about Wal Mart finding illegal stuff in a woman's purse and turning it over to the police had me wondering. If it was meth or cocaine, I could see that because the person who uses that could harm others, but if it was weed I would certainty not because the facts show that the government has constantly lied to us about the effects of mj on ourselves, and others. Am I wrong?

[AdminAssistant]

Marijuana is every bit as illegal as meth or cocaine. Whether it should or should not be is a separate issue.

[Jack]

It's not quite every bit as illegal; for example, in Texas, possession of any amount of cocaine is a state jail felony and it goes up from there ( http://law.jrank.org/pages/11809/Cocaine.html ) while possession of marijuana starts as a misdemeanor ( http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4566 ) -- but yes, the point remains that it's still illegal.

I somewhat expand on the OP's attitude in that I believe a person has a right to put whatever they like into their own bodies and I'm not one to stop them. If they get caught by someone who's paid to care, like the police, that's too bad for them, but I'm not going to tell on them just because it's illegal, if it's not hurting anyone.

[radiocerk]

Most workplaces do have a "no-drug" policy, so why would anyone be dumb enough to take any sort of non-prescription drug to work? That's just asking for trouble in my opinion. If it was a coworker, I could see there being a choice to report it or not, but once it goes to a supervisor, I'm sure they were supposed to report it.

While I think the illegality of marijuana is stupid and unnecessary, given the choice between keeping my job, and looking the other way, I'll follow regulations.

[Hobbs]

Am I wrong?

Yes. Until it's been legalized (don't get me started on that bs) it is still illegal. You can't pick and choose when you'll want to follow the law.

[blas87]

I don't work in retail, but we have a "zero tolerance" drug policy at work that I feel is a total joke. Many people come to work with a few in them and have never gotten in any trouble. People have even been arrested at work for bail jumping based off of drug charges, and are still allowed to work when they return.

[Greenday]

Don't complain about being told on when you do something completely illegal.

[insertNameHere]

I'm not a fan of zero tolerance to the point that if you have a workplace with it and come to work after having some drinks the night before and have .01 BAC you get to lose your job. And for the record at least in OHIO legally drunk for MINORS who can't drink is .02 BAC and for adults is .08 BAC, but still some places really like to stick with ZERO. I can understand forbidding drinking on company property or time, but in your free time screw it.

I guess it really depends on the workplace too, I don't care if my walmart employees are drugged up but certain occupations such as school bus drivers, fire fighters I understand no drugs and alcohol.

Also, a side note isn't California pretty lenient on weed? Of course on a federal level it still illegal but apparently they don't care, (as they like to ban the guns that are legal by government standards)

[Hobbs]

I'm not a fan of zero tolerance to the point that if you have a workplace with it and come to work after having some drinks the night before and have .01 BAC you get to lose your job.

I go by the Air Force standard of 12 hours prior to take-off.

[Bronzebow]

Personally, I wouldn't tattle on anyone for having mj on them. I'm not a partaker and I know it's illegal, but the punishment simply does not fit the crime. When tattling on someone over something so trivial means that they may go to jail, lose their job, lose their income, lose their kids and lose their right to vote...yeah, no.

I wouldn't tell a parent that their child colored outside the lines if it meant that child was going to get beaten nearly to death, so I won't participate in the war on drugs witch hunt.

[telecom_goddess]

On the one hand zero drug policies are getting insane, especially in school. You can't even take an ibuprofin on your own anymore.

On the other hand I"m also tired of pot not being lumped in with the "real" drugs. It is still a drug, it is still illegal and shouldn't be spared because "it's not like it's heroin or something, it's not a real drug" Yes it is and people need to recognize that.

[Jack]

Obviously marijuana is really psychoactive like any other drug, but what people mean when they say it's not a "real drug" is that it's not the sort of dangerous, hard drug the likes of which it's lumped in with. It's impossible to do enough of it to kill or even significantly harm yourself, and you can quit as easily as you like (though you might be really bored if you have nothing else to do). The point of the statement is that it shouldn't be illegal because in practice it's really almost nothing like most other drugs.

[telecom_goddess]

Obviously marijuana is really psychoactive like any other drug, but what people mean when they say it's not a "real drug" is that it's not the sort of dangerous, hard drug the likes of which it's lumped in with. It's impossible to do enough of it to kill or even significantly harm yourself, and you can quit as easily as you like (though you might be really bored if you have nothing else to do). The point of the statement is that it shouldn't be illegal because in practice it's really almost nothing like most other drugs.

I disagree about it being easy to quit...every single person I've known who's used it has never been able to just stop, it becomes more important than anything else in life. And I think it should remain illegal. No you can't kill yourself on it but it still causes your brain to be mush at least temporarily and again I rarely see anyone be something other than a lazy slob on the stuff. They have no motivation beyond getting high. Same thing that happens with other drugs, it just can't be taken to the toxic level.

[Jack]

Maybe I just have great self-control or something. Or lack of addictive personality.

And it's true what you said. You don't smoke if you want to get anything done. But I really addressed this poorly in my last post. The real point should have been that it doesn't harm anyone else (e.g. I've never heard of a crazed pot fiend committing armed robbery to get a hit).

[Greenday]

I'd just like to point out that the extreme majority of people who whine about telling...are people who are doing something wrong.