Brandon Coats leaves the Colorado Supreme Court at the end of a hearing on Sept. 30, 2014, in Denver. The Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Coats, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient who was fired from his job at Dish Network after testing positive for marijuana. A written decision by the court will be issued at a later date. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)
Re: “Employers should stop testing for marijuana,” March 8 Gina Tron column.
I hope Colorado employers are able to evaluate job performance based on employee productivity rather than the contents of bodily fluids. Drug tests are lifestyle tests designed to penalize marijuana consumers. Drug tests may compel marijuana consumers to switch to more dangerous drugs to avoid testing positive. This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing.
Marijuana’s organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for days. More dangerous synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and prescription narcotics are water-soluble and exit the body quickly. If you think drug users don’t know this, think again. Anyone capable of running an Internet search can find out how to thwart a drug test.
The most commonly abused drug and the one most closely associated with violent behavior is alcohol. Legal alcohol kills more people each year than all illegal drugs combined. Hangovers don’t contribute to workplace safety and counterproductive drug tests do absolutely nothing to discourage the No. 1 drug problem: alcohol.
Robert Sharpe,Arlington, Va.
The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy.
This letter was published in the March 16 edition.
