Increasing Marijuana use – a workplace safety risk

Family First continues to advocate against drug liberalisation and normalisation. We’re also in favour of workplace drug testing, as a means to improve workplace safety.

Liberal ‘pro-drug’ governments continue to legalise marijuana, without considering the workplace safety risks. Studies show that increasing numbers of the workforce use marijuana, and pro-marijuana legislation is undoubtedly fuelling this.

According to Quest Diagnostics – the USA’s leading provider of employee drug screenings – marijuana positivity rates among employee drug screenings increased 118.2% in states that legalised recreational marijuana from 2012-2020.

Here is an insightful article on the importance of workplace drug testing, published by the National Safety Council, America’s leading nonprofit safety advocate.

The article discusses the importance of workplace drug testing, and explains why workforce positivity for marijuana a big problem.

“Delta-9 THC – the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high – is a real risk to workplace safety and isn’t the benign, harmless substance it may be believed to be by many Americans.”

Cannabis use is being legalised and normalised around the world, and not surprisingly there has been a corresponding increase in positive tests (positivity rates) within the workplace. Data suggests the use of marijuana on the job may be dangerously high:

Nearly 1 out of 3 professionals (29%) have used cannabis while working in the office or at home in the past three months, according to a 2022 survey of more than 2,500 professionals in the United States

Marijuana positivity is undoubtedly a workplace safety risk.

A proliferation of recent studies demonstrates the real and harmful mental and physical effects of marijuana:

Cannabis users face a significantly greater risk of injury on the job – twice as much as those who don’t use cannabis.
Cannabis users were 22% more likely to visit an ER or be hospitalised
Cannabis use is associated with increased risk of later psychotic disorder
Marijuana as a causative factor for schizophrenia
Marijuana has been associated with diminished motivation, and with increased likelihood of developing depression and anxiety

Drug-friendly California is now considering adding a mental health warning label to marijuana products after ER visits for cannabis-induced psychosis shot up 54% after the state legalised the drug.