The Irony -- Drug testing can serve many purposes

Does this seem to be a little overboard to you? It certainly does to me-- and I can guarantee that I'm not doing anything wrong! SIGH!!!

Way way overboard. I am vehemently against any sort of forced drug test in any capacity.

Yeah, my ex wife said they make her do the drug test for her migraine meds out in Oregon. Crazy stuff. Well, crazy like a fox. These folks don't give a rats patooty about us or our health. This is all a profit motivated endeavor with the Insurance Companies pulling the strings. They've got a good portion of the herd believing that we will be "safer" as if that is part and parcel of a free society.

The really strange thing is that you can take prescribed opiates and get away with it but if marijuana shows up in your system you are glued screwed and tattooed. Even crazier is that you can still retain a Concealed Carry Permit if your Doctor prescribes a Costco sized barrel of Oxy for your ailments but marijuana in the blood stream negates your license.

America is quite the witless place, if you ask me. What society at large believes is the norm and quite sane is in truth, utterly insane.

I have to take 4mg of Klonopin along with 600mg of Neurontin every night for myseizures. I am well aware of how long it takes before I can drive a car, to be not considered under the influence. I never drive before 11.

Yes, in NYS we do have the same laws.

Honestly, Dowser,Yes. But god forbid all of the testing companies don't get to charge for the extra, totally unnecessary test and bill your insurance or the government for it. Wonder who thought that one up, and just how much besides cost has resulted from it? Probably was pushed as a drug enforcement thing... by the companies that do the testing... :/

We have one of the highest drug problems in the country-- so this is the result of all those laws. Every 3 months, I have to go to the doctor and prove I need the medication. Prescriptions are for one month only, so I have to continually keep track of things in order to keep the medication coming. SIGH!

All this has done is make it difficult for people who need the medications to get them. SIGH!

To me, this struck me as absolutely silly. Neither office will share the information with the other, too... I don't know what to do but meet the requirements, but it certainly is a PAIN.

I think it's silly. If one drug tests positive, I MUST be taking my medicine-- but the other test is just one more hoop to jump through.

Add to this that the drugstore often can't get to filling the prescription, and that the doctor only writes prescriptions 3 days a week, and it gets really complicated. SIGH!

I'm sorry I can't write a prescription for you today, you will have to get back to me on that....

Really?

Reply to you can guarantee your doing nothing wrong. So can they!

I get that often and the Doctor is not in on Friday so on Thursday they say they will get it done by the end of the day if they can. Well that really means Monday if I'm lucky.

My brother is 100% disabled. He goes to the pain clinic every month and he's tested to make sure he has his drugs in his system.

It's beaurocratic nonsense - the costs of which get passed on to everyone else who doesn't have a say in the bonehead decisions that lead to such idiotic policies. Drug testing should be limited to the person who actually has an accident, not the 500 people around him who are doing their job without a problem.

Ditto.

Apparently Business Kooks are somehow exempt from the 4th. We live in strange times.

Boy, that's the truth! They're getting me coming AND going...

Yep. This happens all the time to me... Plus, on Monday, the doctor can call in a prescription, but the pharmacy can't fill it, because THEY'RE so busy-- but they tell you it wasn't called in. I've sat there and watched the doctor put the prescription into the computer, and hit "send". Yet, they haven't received it? Nope, they are just too busy or out of it.

I couldn't agree more...

We have a whole bunch of new laws on the book to reduce drug trafficking. And this little gem is one of them.

My question: Do they think arthritis gets better as you get older? HAHAHA!

Yep-- they have managed to close 5 or 6 pain clinics here, because of this new law. WHAT a mess! I can see why people buy it on the 'black market'-- they can't get the meds they need!

It IS protection, and, as I say, I'm happy to take the test for work. It takes time away from work, but they're paying me. But to now have to prove I've taken it for a completely different entity, that's stupid.

Yeah, my insurance is paying for the doctor's test, but the company pays for their test...

I agree-- wait until you notice a problem before you go all out and test everyone! This is just silly!

And Tex, yes, we do live in some interesting times...

I'm going to disagree with that. I think that random drug testing prevents problems. But please take note of the word random.

I have a lot of cop friends, and they all agree, that random testing stopped them from an recreational drugs. Now most of the time, they would do it off the job, but what about the bad apples who would do it on the job?

my personal feeling is that cops should be tested for steroid use as well as drug use.

The drug tests are a big con to make people think they are keeping you safe from people under the influence. When they started these drug tests back in 72 in the army, I was involved with the testing. We would test approx 2 out of 100 and throw the rest out with a negative result. When I complained about what was happening I was told to shut up and do my job or face charges. I knew then it was all for show and not really for "safety" reasons.

I have zero proff that is what is happening in the private labs but I don't trust them to do anything more than take the money. I had 12 CDL drug tests in my last 10 years before I retired. As I have been a long term chronic pain patient for over 15 years, every test should have come back positive and required the MRO to call me to check on my rx. All of the tests came back negative other than number 7 and number 10.

Either the samples weren't all being tested as I saw in the army or else they were incompetent in their testing. I could see one or possibly two "mistakes" but not 10 out of 12. These were not limit issues either as I was on either morphine, oxy, dilaudid or fentanyl and well above any trace amounts they may test for. The tests are more of a scam than any true indicator of drug use/abuse.

YMMV but I don't trust the testing, or the results, any further than I can throw them. It is little more than "feel good" testing to keep the public from having a fit and forcing the legislators to pass actual helpful and needed legislation. When the test start to include politicians, bankers, and corporate welfare queens I may change my belief about the need for testing. Until that time, it is little more than smoke and mirrors to make the public think something is actually being done to keep them safe.

Wow! I've not noticed any errors, but there may be some...

I don't use marijuana because I have a 14 year old at home-- meaning I don't feel that I can. But, I have no real bias against it, and think it certainly should be used medicinally.

But, this is company policy-- even though I'm not the one back there feeding lime and chemicals in... I know about the company policy, and what is, is. I understand why they do it-- we are all a part of the public's welfare and safety. But the one to prove I'm actually taking my prescription? I am, for sure, I couldn't walk without it-- but that one seems to be invasive of my privacy.

I haven't taken a drug test in years. My husband; active military, takes one every time he turns around. He is clean, and if they decide to do one on me I'm clean.

I will drink an excess of coffee before I even take a pill for my headache. I'm afraid of meds much less drugs, I don't know what's in them and will only take them if I'm forced to.

I want to continue to learn the old remedies so I can use them instead of a medicine I have to swallow. I just remember my grandmother talking about this root and that leaf and some bark. Before I could learn too much she passed away.

The very best of luck to you! I hope that your headaches go away, for sure!

I used to have migraines all the time, but haven't since I had my son, thank heavens! UGH, nothing like tying a bandanna around your head to keep your eyeballs in.

Take care!

Well, I don't have any problem with drug-testing for work. The place where I work contains some pretty nasty stuff, and to me, it only makes sense to do drug testing to make sure it isn't vented or something.

But, the drug-testing to make sure I'm actually taking my medication seems very silly to me. What if I don't need it one night? Does that make me a bad person? Yes, some people get their medications and sell them, and that's not good, which is why they're testing you. It just feels a bit too invasive for me.

I feel like I'm sort of a subhuman because I take my medicine, even though I certainly need it for the pain. Maybe that's all a part of the campaign-- to make people feel subhuman.

What affect does marijuana have on a person, Generally speaking ???

It makes you think more openly and giggle more. Kind of like a good joke does. How awful, huh? Maybe we should outlaw jokes too - /s. If there's one thing thiscountry could use, it's anopen mind.Maybe rather than twenty somethings packing themselves into a bar, getting wildly (and legally) drunk, and beating the shit out of someone in a drunken and testosterone infused rage, they could instead take a couple puffs and laugh about how stupid they used to act when theyused to get hammered.

KY is, right now, debating the legal growing of hemp, on an industrial sized basis-- hemp used in rope, door mats, etc.

I don't have a problem with marijuana. Personally, I think they should make it legal, and tax the hell out of it. But that likely wouldn't fly here...

Dowser....I'm sorry for you or anyone who has to take prescribed medication to relieve unbearable pain. And especially those that are considered narcotic. I've seen way too many become addicted to the drug which ends up producing two problems. They don't continue to relieve the pain as well after awhile. A lot of the pain or should I say discomfort actually is from the addiction. Too many doctors find your relief in a bottle, but in some or maybe most cases that is the only way to provide relief.

I think they should be able to do one test at one location that would provide all the information they needed, such as do you test positive, is it legitimate and are you taking your prescriptions as prescribed and not taking a considerable lesser amount indicating you may be selling them. Some people take less than prescribed by the doctor and don't sell the rest because they deal with a little of the pain and acknowledge the addiction to the drug and try to avoid becoming an absolute addict.

I would be more inclined to take illegal drugs than those prescribed by doctors. I've found them to be much safer in the past. I'm not talking about narcotics, either. And I don't take any drugs, legal or illegal now, but I do know there is a big problem with people selling their prescriptions.

I think there is a big waste of money and time in all the things you have gone over in this article. My problem is why do you have to take a drug test in order to keep your job and those that either can't or choose not to work and receive benefits that you and I pay for do not have to live under the same requirements? The first thing I would do is test every politician in Washington. And since they are our public servants <sarc> have them abide by the same requirements you and I have to meet. And make their results public if they test illegitimately positive and have them suffer the same consequences you or I would have to suffer.

We have become a Nation of irony. Personally I feel what one does in the confines of their own home as long as it harms no other is their business. The problem with drug testing in the work place is that many weekend drugs (weed), stays in the system for a bit of time. You can go out and get absolutely hammered on alcohol and that is okay, but if one puffs abit two weeks past you will most likely pop positive.

No easy or fair answer (and yes I am aware my vice is illegal).

How about being aware.. not taking things as serious as they are at a given moment?

Any intoxicant has that property to some extent, legal or otherwise. That's why they are called intoxicants. If that is your concern, then you should be supporting a ban on all intoxicants.

I am trying to get information about marijuana and what it does to the mind while operating a vehicle, heavy equipment, studying for a test/exam, flying a plane etc..

I would suggest seeking that information from any number of reliable sources on the internet or at the library. Don't just take my word for it. I can tell you that, other than from a legal standpoint,marijuana is no more of a drug than alcohol is. In fact, it is far less damaging from a physical standpoint than alcohol or legally prescribed drugs. Research the numbers of deaths caused by overdose on oxycontin/vicotin/etc. and those attributed to alcohol, and contrast them with those of marijuana.

When considering legalization of marijuana, what does operating a vehicle, heavy equipment, studying for a test/exam orflying a plane have to do with anything? Nobody is suggesting that legalization of marijuana be treated with any less regulation than alcohol or legally prescribed drugs. The fact is, marijuana is benign enough of a substance that it does not in any way legitimatize the chaos that its criminalization causes in the US. Losing a job because of it, going to prison because of it, becoming virtually unemployable because of it - these are huge injustices.

It is my theory that eventually marijuana will be legal in all states with the exception of the 11 original Confederate States. It's my guess it will still be a hanging offense down here.

I'm for complete Cannabis legalization with absolutely no taxation.

Hemp should never have been illegal in the first place. Fiber is good.

I'm okay with taxing it, just not taxing the hell out of it. Excessive taxation would only sustain the black market demand for it. I also think thatlegalizationshould also extend to privately growing certain amounts of it. However, my maininterests aremore in line with ending the horrible damage that results from its criminalization. Jail/prison sentences, criminal records, etc. - these need to end.

For me required drug test are akin to taking a large steaming poot on the 4th amendment.

Refuse and resist.

Wish I could, but the consequences would be pretty grim, in either case...

I agree with that, for sure!

However, I need my job, and I need my medications, so what can I do? Not much.

Well, medicinal use? NO TAX. Recreational use? Well, I guess I'm thinking of the taxes on bourbon... Not excessive, by any means.

I don't think it will ever be legalized here, anyway. Too bad, I guess. Some people in the state could use a good buzz...

Par, I don't know. I didn't answer because I didn't know.

Please don't be mad at me.

In my honest and humble opinion, IMHHO, if it gives any relief from chemotherapy, USE it. Period. To deny cancer patients something that would work is inhumane.

I know. Does one feel the effect for 2 weeks? Nope. I don't think so.

It's all in what someone decides is AOK-- alcohol is AOK. Marijuana isn't. Go figure...

Luther,

I hear you talking. I kind of wish they'd haul off and give drug tests wherein we could try different drugs. That would be a test I'd support.

I know what you mean!

I would think that doctors would be aware of which of their patients is dying of cancer-- or has cancer and is fighting it...

Frankly, I sometimes wonder what would happen if a lot of stuff was just over-the-counter. Sure, there would be a lot of abuse, (although who is going to abuse Amoxycillin?), but there may not be, in the long run. It might just cut down on a lot of crime...

LOL, Tex!

Yep, that scenario scares me to death! I would hate to be fired for having arthritis, a heart condition, etc.

I know that after I had the heart attack, I was suddenly considered to be "unhirable". It was quite a blow to my ego to feel worthless in my own world, where I had painstakingly built a reputation of getting the job done and being good at what I was doing. I wasn't worthless, but I felt that way. At 46. With a 3 year old son at home, and a teenager that was needing to go to college.

Oh well...

Testing Politicians, I mean!

Gee, I could do without all that angst and irritation... Especially the angst and irritation of taking drug tests every time I go to the doctor or whenever my number is up on the computer...

Yeah, me too! (rather work with someone who has had a toke or two, versus an alcoholic...)

I can tell in a heartbeat if someone is drunk, but most of the time, I have no idea if someone has had a little marijuana...

See I knew someone had a great all natural remedy. Thank you Jewel I so much appreciate it.I use to eat Hemp seeds all the time, now here in Germany I don't even go looking for them. I must do that.

I think the other thing that will help is to get back to America.

Thank you Dowser, I know the hemp will help.

Yep. That's my thought.

Another thought-- the pharmacy makes such a big deal about it being a Controlled Substance . Aren't they all? I mean, you can't just walk in and buy Amoxycillin, you have to have a prescription. I can't just walk in and buy by asthma medication, I have to have a prescription...

Most people think that something with a narcotic in it is automatically addictive. I only take it at night, so I can sleep comfortably. Is that so terrible? Without it, I would be dead-- it has now been proven that lack of sleep contributes to heart attacks. So, since I've had a heart attack, wouldn't it mean that sleep, as well as other things, be important?

I've gone without my medications for a couple of weeks, while my doctor was on vacation, and I had no withdrawal symptoms. I was utterly miserable and couldn't sleep for 2 weeks, beyond dozing, and caught a cold because my immune system was down, and a stomach bug-- so, if I'd been able to sleep, could I have withstood that and not gotten sick?

If there was an effective method of pain relief that didn't involve a narcotic, I'd certainly take it-- but there isn't. 1000 mg of Ibuprofen doesn't touch it. So, what am I do to?

It's a mess. I am not breaking the law. I am not using it to get high, nor selling it, nor doing anything but trying to stay alive. So, why make me feel that I'm being overly scrutinized just because some people abuse it?

UGH.

Yes. It is always offensive to those who are training when I tell the nurse in charge that I want no one without a few years experience poking at me-- but it is MY arm and my blood, and my veins they keep blowing out. Besides that, it hurts.

So, frankly, get someone in there that knows what they're doing or leave me be.

I think it is overdone.

I have never taken illegal drugs and take no strong legal drugs nut I would refuse to take a drug test.

Other than pilots or truck drivers where safety of others could be affected, public employes should not be forced to take such tests.

Well, while I see your point, for sure-- we DO have a lot of really nasty chemicals around a water company. It's probably a good thing that we have to be so "alert" as to what we're doing...

Chlorine is pretty dangerous, and it would be easy to really mess something up. So, I guess I can see why they feel the way they do.

I would guess more people come to work drunk than high.

Other than dealing with safety, there should be no drug tests.

I look at it this way, too-- as long as the siren is on, whoever is in there is alive, and there is hope!

Hope, springs eternal!

True.

It always makes me feel better, to think that, anyway...

What medical conditions are treated with alcohol and tobacco? Oh wait, those LEGAL intoxicants don't treat medical conditions, they RESULT in medical conditions. Along comes an alternative with farLESS potential forCAUSING medical problems, and here we are arguing about whether we should legalize it only for treating medical conditions? Am I the only one here who sees this as completely backwards?

Drug tests are stupid.

Since there are people dying from prescription opiate abuse, they've gone whole hog after trying to monitor their use. All it's doing is causing pain (real pain) for people and an excuse to put others into the industrial for-profit prison complex.

Leave people the fuck alone with what they are doing with their own bodies.

I feel the same way-- Leave Me Alone. I'm not doing anything wrong, but am being treated like a criminal... ARGHH!

I understand the need for some jobs to require drug testing. that being said I will say my last drug test which was many, many and yes many years ago did not go well. At least for the drug tester, it went just fine for the drug testee.

I was working for a company hauling heavy equipment for a methane pipe line company. I didnt need the job at the time and was just doing it for the adrenaline rush,..and cuz i got to play with really big heavy equipment. On the way out to the job sight the boss called on the two way and said to report to the field saftey trailer for a drug test. needless to say I voiced my opinion on what I thought about the matter. I was a little insulted that my word was not good enough for them so when I got to the saftey trailer I was less than kind in manners. I told the lady what I thought of her testing and she simply held up the plastic cup and said you will need to fll this up to the line. I smarted off to her from across the room saying if you will move it two more inches to the right i can just hit t from here. Not amused she snorted back at me and said just fill the damn cup. I took it and went and filled it. Unfortunately for all concerened when I returned the cup I had not put the lid on the cup very securly and when i accedenly stumbled, wink,wink,..I spilled all over her desk and paper work. OMG was she ever pissed, no pun inteneded.

Get to hell out of here were her next words. so back to the main office I went. The boss a little upset with me asked if I had done it on purpose,..I said I may have. He then asked me why and I told him I knew I would test positive for grass. oh my he said I didnt think you did drug. I don't I replied, and he said well then how do you know it would have tested postve for grass. Thats simple I said, before I filled the cup I put some lawn clipping in the bottom of the cup......and the rest is history....

I wish I could get away with something like that...

its kind of an age thing,...its like pinching a girl on the bottom....if you are young and you do it, you get punished for being nasty,..if you are middle aged and you do it you get slapped for being a pervert,..if you are old and you do it you get laughed at for being a cute dirty old man,...

That's funny LR!

But what if it had been the dreaded HAIR test? That's bullshit too. Obviously if you took some drugs in the last 90 days, it would come back positive. And then what?

If you can show yourself sober and competent to do the job on that day, that's all that should count. I've seen the most blind, clumsy people given jobs driving forklifts or other equipment - People that can barely walk or see across the room! I've seen blithering idiots given sensitive jobs.

As far as I am concerned, it constitutes unreasonable search....but then, an employer is not the government so that Constitutional blurb does not really apply.

The worst is the credit check some states have. That practice was banned in IL. So if you got in financial trouble during the recession, you were assured to never be able to find employment again. Cruel and stupid.

Reminds me of when I wasunemployed and broke, and the bank would take a service charge out of my checking account that would overdraw it, and then I would get an overdraft fee that I couldn't cover - because I didn't have a job, which would incur several more overdraft fees over the nextseveral days - regardless of me explaining to them that there were no funds comingin my immediate future. They just racked up as much debt as they could before they forced the account closed. It's still on my credit report years later - Irefuse topay it out of principle.

Actually, I'm not sure if my State has these requirements or not. I probably SHOULD know that, however. I think it's pretty weird that if you are shown to be negative on a prescribed drug, or let's say, under the amount prescribed, that you would be assumed to be "selling the drug" for a profit. Maybe on a particular day you just don't feel that you need as much, so you cut down. And that is the day that you are tested...........hmmm, quite a connundrum.

Thanks, Dowser. This is food (and medicine) for thought. I never quite saw it this way. Then again, the prescription drugs that have people all in a tizzy these days are a far cry from what was once able to be prescribed. Both our food and our prescription drugs are largely watered down versions of what used to be available. I understand that precautions must be taken, however they are "piss poor" (sorry, couldn't help it, lol).

LOL! You're right about that!

I don't understand it either, but I will take the full dose before I go to the doctor again, for sure... At least I can plan that.

Oh Hal, I do understand. I'm so sorry!

Anything awful like that has happened to me, too. Daddy once wrote a tax check to the IRS for his business. Because they had charged some fee he didn't know about, he was like $2 short, and the bank wouldn't honor the check... So THEN he had to pay IRS late fees, and bank fees. He took ALL his money out of the bank, transferred his loans, and never, ever darkened their door again...

I would refuse to pay, too. CRETINS! I hate banks.

krounded-- sort of like debtor's prison...

LOL! I'll remember that!

Also, remember to ask for lab draws-- it keeps the cross-training itinerant blood suckers from coming into your hospital room at 4 am...

It sure is a debtor's prison. So if you ever get laid off, you cannot even get another job. Socially imposed prison for the outcast that lost a job due to no fault of their own. Very efficient.

That coupled with the companies that will not hire anyone that is not already employed and a new underclass is assured... Cheap overqualified labor to take advantage of for part time and contract labor for menial jobs at best.... and bums, beggars and hobos at worst.

One can start their own business of course...but it's not for everyone.

I am required to pass a yearly drug screening and I can be hit for a random test anytime, along with a drug screen required by the power plant, factory, and/or any job site I work at. None of these drug testing labs talk to each other. I was tested last january, and my test came back positive for butal (spelling?), it is a med my wife takes for her migrines, i get them too, but not so often that my doctor or myself feel a need to have it prescribed. Any how the test came back as fouled, the nurse asked me if i had a prescription for it and i said no, i did inform her that my wife did and that i had recently had a migrine and she gave me one of hers.

The nurse said she would call the Dr. in charge to ask him about the policy on this and for me to have my wife fax them the prescription which i did. All the while I could not go to work because of a bad drug test I was informed by my Union that I would have to go to a drug rehab and I was suspended for 30 days, all at my own expense. I was furious, I called my union rep and explained the situation and i was promptly informed thats the policy and either i followed it or i would be blackballed, meanwhile the nurse called me back and said the Dr told her that in this case the drug screen would be dumped and for me to report to the drug screening lab for a new sample which came back drug free. I then went to my union hall and shoved it, my clean test results, into my reps faceand told him he could stick it up his rearend. I was reinstated and i went back to work and guess what, another drug test and another and another yes one more which all came back negitive, so all in all six tests later, two weeks lost pay, and the threat of being blackballed it all turns out to be a big waste of time and money! So you really want to know how i feel about drug testing..................

Oh MY! Yep, I understand...

It's all too much, you know? Just too much!!!

but I will take the full dose before I go to the doctor again, for sure... At least I can plan that.

Well, yes, you have no choice. What an odd approach. This is one of those things where I think "Don't they have anything better to do than to go after law abiding citizens"? It is insulting.

Wow, AmericanDreamsShattered, what an awful experience to endure. All over one silly migraine pill. I guess that was only the beginning of the headache. That should never have happened. Purely insane.

When I was in the Air Force, random testing comes with the territory, While in, I worked for a bus company on the side-the state would contact them and tell them to send X number of drivers to be tested-we were small, so the number was generally 1-so they sent me a lot-as they knew I was more than likely 'clean'.

Ugh! What fun! (sarc.)

What? We have gone too far. At least that is what I think. I have an implanted pump. How on earth would they sort my blood tests? I don't want to know.

Ugh, I agree! I hope you're ok!!!

In regards to your question, there are some variables to discuss. Firstly, all people are not affected in the same way, much like alcohol, some handle that just fine in moderation, while for others even one or two drinks may produce a drastic change in behavior or mood. With marijuana, infrequent or inexperienced users experience the giddiness and giggliness so often described, but for long-term or medical users, not so much. A regular user will experience more of a relaxing effect that a silly, giddy one.

There are also numerous strains of the cannabis plant, with somewhat different effects. The method of ingestion, smoking, vs eating foods cooked with ganja oil (or butter), vs taking a couple of drops of tincture under the tongue, vs topical application of ganja oil to the skin; each method produces different results. Smoking (or inhaling vapors) provides immediate effect, important for those who use it to treat nausea, or other digestive issues, such as motion sickness/vertigo, Crohn's, or side effects of Chemotherapy treatments. The immediate effect of inhaling also can be crucial in treating seizures. Eating baked goods or other foods containing an oil or butter extraction of the THC produces a far better body (rather than brain) relaxation, or pain relieving effect than inhaling does. This is my preferred method, I have dealt with chronic back pain since 1992 (essentially all of my adult life), when I was the pedestrian in a vehicle vs pedestrian accident, I rolled up on his hood, then was thrown onto my lower back in the street when he saw me and slammed on his brakes. I am allergic to opiates, they make me itch horribly all over, and painfully constipated. Being dangerously allergic to other commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals, I am not so inclined to try anything new from them, I will stick with what works for me. If I eat a second or third cookie on a day when the pain is particularly bad, it will not kill me ( I certainly would not get behind the wheel after that much).

Topical application is probably the least talked about method, or even known to the general public. I do not know if enough would get into the bloodstream to test positive. It does work on muscular aches and pains, the relief I get on a varicose vein in my ankle which gets achy and throbs after a long day at work is absolutely amazing.

There has not been a day in the last 20+ years that I would not have tested positive for it, yet I have a spotless driving record, the last speeding ticket I got was in 1988, and no accidents ever. The "buzz" is quite different than that of alcohol, a drunk thinks they are invincible, while a stoner is aware of their impairment, therefore making them more likely to make the decision to stay home/stay put until the effect has worn off. I have not had difficulty landing or keeping a job, sometimes holding more than one at a time, though I do not drive or operate heavy equipment for a living.

I have to say this... the guy who drank heavily and did some cocaine on Saturday night is probably not 100% there in mind or body on Monday morning, yet he will probably not test positive for it.