Pierre Berton used it to relax, Michael Bloomberg tried it, and Bill Clinton didn't inhale, so what's the big deal? Well, frankly, pot must be the most harmful "benign" drug out there.
Its use and abuse have definite, though subtle, effects on business, and the damaging side-effects for chronic users are becoming clearer as new studies emerge. Yet the gap between Canadians' behaviour and our growing body of knowledge is of concern.
A Health Canada study released late last year revealed that the percentage of Canadians who say they used cannabis in the past year went from 7.4 per cent in 1994 to 14 per cent in 2004. The highest marijuana usage was found in British Columbia (16.8 per cent).
Both a recent Statistics Canada survey and a report from the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) on substance abuse in the workplace buttress the Health Canada numbers. AADAC showed that all types of substance use in Alberta workplaces remained relatively flat from 1992-2002, with the notable exception being marijuana, or cannabis: Pot smokers - who used at least once in the past year, on or off the job - have almost doubled their representation among workers, going from six to 10 per cent.
Buried in the studies are trends that usage has gone up most dramatically in the 15-19 age group, and university- educated people are more likely to have used marijuana than others.
But why should businesses care? Isn't cannabis the innocuous drug, more like nicotine than cocaine? Isn't the excessive American War on Drugs giving marijuana an undeserved bad name?
Well, yes and no.
Dr. Brendan Adams is an occupational physician based in Calgary. He runs the substance abuse program for the Air Line Pilots Association, among other things, and he calls both the pro-marijuana and anti-marijuana camps "evil" for distorting the facts.
"Because it is not associated with the aggressivity and anti-social behaviour that alcohol has with it, (marijuana) tends to have gotten a bit of a good rap as a mellow drug. But a drug is a drug is a drug," he said in a phone interview. "There's no such thing as a safe one or non-addictive one. Alcohol is addictive and unsafe, and so is marijuana."
Adams is a breath of fresh air because he is quick to point out the weaknesses in both sides of the drug-war debate. At the top of his list is his insistence that alcohol abuse is a far greater problem than cannabis abuse, mostly because it's so much more common, but also because drunks often misjudge their impairment and do stupid things such as get behind the wheel of a car.
This illustrates a larger point: Substances that cause misjudgments can affect important business decisions, not to mention company vehicles and employees' lives.
But problem marijuana users, as the Health Canada stats show, are quickly approaching the levels of problem drinkers: Five per cent versus eight per cent of the entire population, respectively. The marijuana numbers are going the wrong direction, fast. Plus, alcohol use at work is declining, at least in Alberta, according to AADAC: Fewer employees drink on the job than they did 10 years ago. Not so for marijuana.
Our society tolerates discrimination against heavy drinkers.
The courts have endorsed the breathalyser test as a justifiable infringement of human rights in the interest of driver and workplace safety.
But today there is no reliable way to measure the similar impairment when it comes to cannabis intoxication. A urine test is the standard marijuana measuring stick, but "it doesn't tell you whether someone is impaired or not - some companies act like it does," Adams told me. "All it tells you is whether they're using or not using.
In fact, because there is no standard test for marijuana impairment at all, and any attempt to fire or censure an employee for marijuana "impairment" (such as a sniffer dog smelling something non-specific) is vulnerable to court challenge.
This is a bind for businesspeople. The harm that stoned employees can inflict on a business is just as real as it is for drunks, but the methods of detection are not in place. Anyone can smell alcohol on someone's breath; not so with cannabis. And random drug testing is disallowed in Canada.
With such increasingly lax rules concerning marijuana in this country (decriminalization included), our American customers are now beginning to look askance at our practices. I know of a least one large American company that has sent a Calgary software firm (its supplier) a request that the Canadians submit to drug tests, implying that the contract depends on passing such tests (which are legal in the United States, but not here).
This bold move may be a symptom of the growing gap between our two countries over this issue. It has been common in the transportation business to submit drivers to urine tests to satisfy American authorities. It appears that testing clean might soon be necessary in other businesses, too.
Beyond that, well-paying oilsands construction jobs now require passing a pre-hire drug test. Someone needs to tell the high school students who have adopted pot so enthusiastically that marijuana usage can show up in a blood test many weeks after their last joint. Getting a job in the oilpatch, not to mention getting life or health insurance privately, may depend on a clean test.
And business owners and managers have strong cause for concern. Recent studies have suggested a link between chronic marijuana use and increased accident rates and absenteeism. Even the next generation of workers may be at risk, as data point to long-term learning problems in children of using mothers.
There are many innocuous infrequent marijuana users who don't pose any kind of threat, and don't come to work stoned. But today's bud is a lot different from the stuff Pierre Berton smoked in the 1960s. Weed on the street is reportedly two to 15 times more potent (or more), and therefore more addictive and dangerous than ever, especially as it affects chronic use.
It's time our Canadian attitude towards pot is updated to the 21st century.
Putting all the potheads in jail is not the answer, since most of them probably have a disease needing urgent treatment, after all. But neither is letting this opportunity to inform the next generation of the risks. Kids today might be jeopardizing their careers and businesses.
10 HARMFUL EFFECTS OF CHRONIC POT USE
* Impairs learning;
* Impairs memory;
* Impairs reaction times;
* Impairs coordination;
* Can lead to addiction;
* Withdrawal can lead to aggressive behaviour (seven days after last used);
* Damages the fetus (women) and sperm (men);
* May lower fertility in men and women (controversial);
* Exposes dormant schizophrenia (possibly depression too);
* Lowers IQs (at least) temporarily by about 10 points.
- Sources: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez; Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology vol. 168; Dr. Brendan Adams
(Ian van de Burgt can be reached at ian@businessedge.ca)"
