Has your company's drug use policy changed since legalization?

[btimbit]

Maybe it was buried in one of the other legalization threads but I haven't seen anything. After reading the CPS union filing a grievance about it and reading my own company's policy, I'm curious what everyone else is seeing.

Personally marijuana is still banned for employees at my company and periodic testing will continue. How about you guys?

[TorqueDog]

Our company only performs drug testing when it is specifically required for a particular customer to do business with us, and only for those staff who will be working on-site with that customer. However, employees are not drug-tested as a condition of employment with us.

Our company did release guidance on cannabis use upon legalization, and basically the guidance is the same as alcohol: being under the influence of an intoxicant is not permitted at work, or at company-sponsored social events. If you are going to partake in alcohol or recreational cannabis, you can't / aren't supposed to return to work until you're sober.

The fun part of that is that alcohol is absolutely permitted at company-sponsored social events, and people get absolutely blitzed. I suspect there will be a lot of high-as-a-kite recreational cannabis users at our upcoming Christmas party.

Medical cannabis is, as it always has been, evaluated on a case-by-case basis. So I can still use CBD strains without running foul of the policy as I've already cleared it with HR. I seldom do, but I'm allowed to if I decided I could benefit from a little added focus at home.

[calgarygeologist]

My company has banned marijuana use even during personal time for my work group because we are a safety critical environment. They even changed a company wide policy on alcohol in the workplace. We can no longer bring bottles of booze to the office as gifts or for workplace raffles/draws. Although the company still allows booze at company events.

[Oil Stain]

I'm in a safety sensitive position.

They changed their cannabis policy to no usage 24 hours before work starts.

[burn_this_city]

Fit for duty, it's not allowed on site, in company vehicles, or at company functions.

The companies banning it outright, even for people in safety sensitive positions are just asking for a court challenge. I don't think it's a tenable position long term.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

The fun part of that is that alcohol is absolutely permitted at company-sponsored social events, and people get absolutely blitzed. I suspect there will be a lot of high-as-a-kite recreational cannabis users at our upcoming Christmas party.

I can't imagine anything more awful than being baked at a work social event. Especially the Christmas party.

Anyone who thinks pot is going to become as socially normalized as alcohol is dreaming. People drink in social situations to relax and become more outgoing. It's easier to chat with someone from payroll in a buffet line if you have a couple drinks in you. For most people, pot has the opposite effect - it makes them self-conscious and anxious in public. They aren't going to start smoking dope at company events, kids birthdays parties, or anywhere else they're socializing with groups of people they don't know well.

[Duruss]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I can't imagine anything more awful than being baked at a work social event. Especially the Christmas party.

Anyone who thinks pot is going to become as socially normalized as alcohol is dreaming. People drink in social situations to relax and become more outgoing. It's easier to chat with someone from payroll in a buffet line if you have a couple drinks in you. For most people, pot has the opposite effect - it makes them self-conscious and anxious in public. They aren't going to start smoking dope at company events, kids birthdays parties, or anywhere else they're socializing with groups of people they don't know well.

I do all the time, helps with my Autistic social stuggles.

[Hey Connor, It's Mess]

Have RCMP and municipal police agencies made any amendments to their policies? I wonder where that will go.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Hey Connor, It's Mess

Have RCMP and municipal police agencies made any amendments to their policies? I wonder where that will go.

RCMP have to be clean for 28 days before duty, basically impossible. Municipal police seems to have various policies, Calgary cops are forbidden, and other places it's 24-48 hours. Calgary police union is contesting the policy, rightfully I believe.

[wwkayaker]

Originally Posted by Hey Connor, It's Mess

Have RCMP and municipal police agencies made any amendments to their policies? I wonder where that will go.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4529324/r...y1B3IUxWXCWsXY

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Fit for duty, it's not allowed on site, in company vehicles, or at company functions.

The companies banning it outright, even for people in safety sensitive positions are just asking for a court challenge. I don't think it's a tenable position long term.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'm all for treating it like alcohol and being fit for duty but what I did 2 weeks prior on my days off shouldn't matter

[Coach]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I can't imagine anything more awful than being baked at a work social event. Especially the Christmas party.

Anyone who thinks pot is going to become as socially normalized as alcohol is dreaming. People drink in social situations to relax and become more outgoing. It's easier to chat with someone from payroll in a buffet line if you have a couple drinks in you. For most people, pot has the opposite effect - it makes them self-conscious and anxious in public. They aren't going to start smoking dope at company events, kids birthdays parties, or anywhere else they're socializing with groups of people they don't know well.

Perhaps the anxiety and self consciousness has to do with the social stigma and less with the pot?

This is the benefit of knowing and being able to choose strains. Many strains will make most people very sociable. And with vaporizers eliminating odour, combined with available edibles (eventually), I bet you’ll be talking to more stoned people than you think.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Coach

Perhaps the anxiety and self consciousness has to do with the social stigma and less with the pot?

And I suppose the relaxation of inhibitions that most people feel when they drink alcohol is simply down to social norms as well?

Originally Posted by Coach

This is the benefit of knowing and being able to choose strains. Many strains will make most people very sociable.

I don't buy that the anxiety many people feel after smoking pot is due to its illegality. Cocaine is illegal but it doesn't stop people from being outgoing and social when they're on it. Same with ecstasy.

It's not my experience, in 34 years of smoking pot and hanging out with pot smokers, that most people are more sociable when they're high. Very few of the hundreds of people I've smoked pot with were more eager to interact with strangers in a public setting after they'd smoked than before. The number one reason people cite for disliking pot is the feeling of social anxiety that they feel. Different strains of pot may have moderately different effects, but they don't act like completely different drugs. Just like alcohol, cocaine, and ecstasy, the typical effects of pot are well established.

Originally Posted by Coach

And with vaporizers eliminating odour, combined with available edibles (eventually), I bet you’ll be talking to more stoned people than you think.

And I bet this notion that social norms will be dramatically affected by the legalization of pot will prove to be unfounded. Around 15 per cent of Canadian adults sometimes smoke pot. Judging by the experiences of other places where it has been legalized, that number will likely inch up to 17 or 18 per cent. And it will continue to be socially acceptable among the people and environments where it was acceptable before legalization, and frowned on among the people and environments where it wasn't.

[DuffMan]

I'm wondering what our company golf tournament will be like this year, when everyone lets loose. Wonder if some people will be smoking and others pointing at them at saying, "I knew it".

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Maybe it was buried in one of the other legalization threads but I haven't seen anything. After reading the CPS union filing a grievance about it and reading my own company's policy, I'm curious what everyone else is seeing.

Personally marijuana is still banned for employees at my company and periodic testing will continue. How about you guys?

not a thing has changed. management just reminded people not to come to work impaired, no matter what you use.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Fit for duty, it's not allowed on site, in company vehicles, or at company functions.

The companies banning it outright, even for people in safety sensitive positions are just asking for a court challenge. I don't think it's a tenable position long term.

The police union is fighting the ban. We have an Association, not a union, at work that is supposed to be our middleman between management and ourselves and they are supposed to be fighting the ban on our behalf. I don't expect them to be able to do anything because they are useless and don't have the experience or knowledge to fight a battle of this nature. They will just roll over and accept the ban.

[manwiches]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I can't imagine anything more awful than being baked at a work social event. Especially the Christmas party.

Anyone who thinks pot is going to become as socially normalized as alcohol is dreaming. People drink in social situations to relax and become more outgoing. It's easier to chat with someone from payroll in a buffet line if you have a couple drinks in you. For most people, pot has the opposite effect - it makes them self-conscious and anxious in public. They aren't going to start smoking dope at company events, kids birthdays parties, or anywhere else they're socializing with groups of people they don't know well.

Everybody's reaction when using is different. I've done it a couple times when I was younger, and it puts me right to sleep. It doesn't make me more self-conscious or anxious. Just zoned out and/or tired. Not for me.

My cousin on the other hand does it before every beer league game though, to calm his nerves and let him 'normalize'. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with it, but he's much calmer and less temperamental when he's had it. He's much more chill in social settings with it too, as he's usually a high energy person. FWIW, he works in an extremely safety critical position, and does not do it during or before working hours.

To each their own.

[8sPOT]

Yup. All the signs were updated to show alcohol and cannabis. Not allowed to be under the influence at work, or bring it to work. Simple as that.

Not sure about work parties etc, we dont have many of those anyways.

[Huntingwhale]

No one has mentioned it here. No email from corporate, no new policies. Just a couple wise cracks about handing out joints to clients. But no official company comment. I don't imagine there will be. We're all adults, what we do in our own time is private, and it's legal. There's not much to say for a bunch of people who sit in an office all day.

[Lubicon]

Our company is treating it essentially the same as alcohol. Fit for duty, no partaking during business hours, not allowed on company premises and our policy is superceded by a client's policy when working on their sites.

And as a manager I am currently taking a mandatory online training course on cannabis as well. How to recognize use, it's effects, our legal responsibilities under the new legistlation etc.