I delivered for Pizza Hut last year. I'm a pot smoker, so was everyone else at the shop. Before I get to my shitty story, you have to know that one day, the guy who's kind of in charge of all of the drivers was asked "How easy is delivering compared to waiting on tables?" to which he replied "It's the easiest fucking job in the world. You take the pizza to your car, light up a blunt, and go on your way." I was in the back room with them and I cracked a smile and everyone was laughing saying "Haha jrod, of course you know that." One Sunday morning I asked a coworker if my eyes looked okay. She has no problem with anyone smoking pot, but that day she decided to rat me out to the shift manager. So then it was me, the shift manager, the head driver guy, and the GM outside. They told me I couldn't be doing this. I looked the other driver square in the eyes and he dropped his head. I think he knew exactly what I wanted to say, but I didn't say it. I went home and had to tell my mom, and out of nowhere she wrote my letter of resignation. That was the embarrassing part, but I don't think my manager knew she did it. Went in to take the drug test, failed, and went on with life. Now I make sandwiches at another shop of pot heads. The manager in charge of the schedule sold her old vaporizer on ebay and had the dad of the kid who bought it come to the shop to pick it up. Needless to say I'm in really good company here.
One summer I read electric meters. It was the greatest job I ever had, I got paid a lot of money for my age and I got to drive around or walk around all summer long and be outside. The good days were when you walked up to a house and there was a cute girl outback laying in the sun or when it was a complete walking route and you could take your time and listen to your headphones. There was nothing wrong with the job. Another cool aspect of the job was that you were given a route and if you finished it early you were done for the day but still got paid eight hours. One day, I drove my car up to a house and saw that there were two dogs, one on a leash and one running free. In the yard there was a man gardening. i rolled down my window and asked "is it okay for me to exit my car? Are the dogs friendly"? He said that the dog off of the leash was friendly but to stay away from the one on the leash. I got out of my car and almost immediately the dog that was running free ran right up to me and bit into my leg, taking out a big chunk of flesh. I began bleeding all over the place. The man in the garden was very nice, took me inside and dressed my wound. We both agreed that I would need stitches. I went to the emergency room and got the stitches. But because I was injured at work, I was forced to take a drug test. Of course, the test results came back positive. All within the same week I was bit by dog, had to get stitches, and was fired from my job. My boss was a giant stoner, but his hands were tied. So, I can sort of relate.
It'll be interesting when marijuana is legal to see how many people will keep their jobs. I work at a place where everyone smokes and we speak about it freely in front of the manager. We're not required to take drug tests, but I can imagine if something like this were to happen we'd all be screwed. And what I hate about this is that drinking is completely fine.
What I think is even more interesting is happening now. As marijuana is legalized in certain states and not all it seems to be setting up a confrontation. What if thenewgreen has been smoking legally in Colorado the week before when he returned to his job in Montana for example? Or potentially even more difficult, for federal security clearance you generally have to be drug free for some amount of time before taking the job, well what if you come from a state where marijuana is perfectly legal? Does that prohibition still apply?
All these consequences of disjointed state/federal laws will eventually lead to a national law legalizing it. It will happen in the next 10 years, but then they likely said that 10 years ago, right?
I think it'll take longer than 10 years, but things are definitely progressing. I think it'll be difficult for the more conservative states to loosen up on it. But who knows? at that point the federal law may have already legalized it.