Purley

"He got caught smoking a substance in his break;" no - that was NOT the case. He has never been caught. What happened was that other employees guessed or thought he was smoking dope in his car and they snitched to the supervisor. He was never "caught" doing it, although my son told me that his friend had admitted to him that he was smoking dope in his car.

It was another employee who got caught and who was suspended.

Like I said, I have no idea whether smoking dope affects your ability to work any more than a cigarette does - after all cigarettes are a drug and people smoke them all the time and work afterwards. Whether either one makes you unable to work - I really don't know.

I am sure my son was just like anyone else - he felt sorry for his friend for being fired, even though he had been telling him all along that he was stupid for doing it. I would probably feel the same if something similar happened to a friend, even though I recognized that it was his own darn fault!

hot wasabi peas

Did he inhale?

Rete

Then he has a case for a lawsuit against the company. Unless he was found with the substance on his person (which is illegal) and/or smoking it on company premises, then they cannot fire you on heresay.

Rete

As per my Canadian husband who I just asked about the socially acceptable pastime in Canada of smoking pot, his answer was "depends on the province/city". Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, yes. Regina, Ottawa (most of Ontario), no.

However, socially acceptable does not make it legal nor does having it delivered free you from having participated in a criminal act. By a quarter I believe you mean $25 worth of weed. Now that is a lot of weed. (A friend's son, age 13, has a court date on Monday for buying a dime which was one gram.) I know that you allow your children to partake of drugs as you posted that once before. You have the same viewpoint as my ex-husband who told his daughters if they wanted drugs to let him know. He would get them "clean" drugs. I told him to **** off and told the girls the punishment they would receive from me, their custodial parent, would be worse than being sentenced by a judge for possession. Until they were adults they had to live by my rules. And no, that is not being hypocritical, as I was an adult when I smoked and not living at home.

Personally, I have smoked a bit in my much younger days (30 years ago) and find pot to be very disorienting and would never have gotten behind a wheel or been in public during those times.

Cookie

That guy is stupid and dumb, and for anyone that finds the need to smoke dope on a break should wake up and realise they have a problem.

I would have fired him too as he was not 'fit for work' through drink or drugs, and is not only a danger to himself but becomes a liability to his colleagues. I wouldn't think that you have to be caught red-handed. After all you could spend a few hours drinking in a pub then head off to work drunk. Being under the influence of any mind-altering substance is enough.

Purley

Having never smoked dope I really don't know if you can prove that someone is under its influence - I mean I assume you could do a urine test or something but I don't think there is a breath test for that is there? Can someone tell by looking at a person that they are high on marijuana like they can booze? Can you smell it like booze? If someone denies that they have smoked dope - short of a urine test could an employer tell?

If you cannot tell, then if the person denies it - then surely the employer has no reason to fire that person. To me that would be like - you suspect someone has stolen some money at work - money missing from a drawer say and everyone denies having done it. You cannot just accuse someone and fire them - surely you would have to call in the police and have an investigation of some kind. Just because you THINK the person has done it. Isn't this the same kind of thing?

I am not saying it's right to smoke dope in your car. Neither is my son. All I am saying is surely you have to prove something to fire a person for cause. You can't just say "I am firing you for smoking dope" or "I am firing you for stealing cash" you could be wrong - you can't just accuse someone of something - you have to prove that you are right.

monique

Legally speaking, most employers these days are only too aware of what they can or cannot do, they would not want to put themselves in a position to be sued and so most likely they took proper action. The truth of the matter is that neither you or your son really know what went down between employer/employee yet you're defending your son's friend as though you had been present.

I for one would not tolerate an employee of mine to be doing drugs while on their breaks, not only because of performance, but also, what do you think would happen if such employee were to overdose while on the job?. The employer would get sued for having allowed such behaviour.

Purley

My son said his friend told him that the employer said that because lots of people had told him that he was smoking dope in his car, he was being fired on the spot. That is what he was going on. Maybe his friend didn't tell him the truth. My son was just going on what he was told.

We discussed the matter and we both thought - that going on what my son's friend told him - the employer did not have a reason to fire him for cause and so he should have been given some kind of severance. I just wanted to know whether others agreed.

zalaben

Like I said, I have no idea whether smoking dope affects your ability to work any more than a cigarette does - after all cigarettes are a drug and people smoke them all the time and work afterwards. Whether either one makes you unable to work - I really don't know.
quote

As for as I know ,cigarettes, although a drug because of their addictive quality, does not affect your ability to perform on the job whereas dope gets you `HIGH`` which definately affects your work performance.When you are high you are not in control of your actions.

You mentioned that your son`s friend works in a manufacturing plant where I would assume he works with heavy machinery ... `nuff said.

Also to compare cigarettes with dope doesnt cut it with me as one is illegal and the other one isnt.

Basically, if you are stupid enough to do dope on your break you deserve to get fired. Maybe that;s what he wanted. Surely he knew he was doing wrong otherwise why hide out in the car? And Yes, you can smell dope .

Do what you want at home. People smoke up all the time at home or at parties and as long as they come in the next day ready for work( as another poster pointed out) it is no ones business but common sense tells you not to smoke up on the job and again, he deserved what he got! rant over!

moonraker

Dope has an aromatic herby smell and it clings to hair and clothes. You can certainly smell it both on the person and in their enviroment. Effects largely depend on usage. A small amount = mild intoxication, mid to heavy use = slow reaction times, discoordination, maybe some paranoia (jitteryness), hunger (munchies) red eyes, perceptual alterations, giggling; though many of these symptoms are a normal part of teenage behaviour anyway.

Evidence of smoking may be another indicator; rolling tobacco, papers, cardboard flters, plastic 'bongs'. In general, testing via blood, hair or urine is not a test of intoxication, only of use. With heavy regular use dope can stay detectable in your system up to 30 days and up to a week for occasional use.

Sweat testing can be used for detecting intoxification purposes but is still in development. The police in the UK still use a standard intoxification test (walk the line) for driving offences if drug use is suspected. If you fail this for any reason then you are not fit to drive.

If I was an employer I would not be happy with an employee smoking dope on or around my premises, particularly if they were working with machinery, or dealing with customers. There is also the issue of culpability on the part of the employer. In the UK it is against the law to allow your premises to be used for the taking, preparation or supply of illegal drugs. Also you can be charged if you allow anyone, including your children, to take drugs at home even if you only have a suspicion that they are doing so.

This is how it is in England and Wales (Scotland has differences) In Canada it may be vastly different and vary from province to province. It may be worth contacting a local drug agency for information to get yourself up to speed on the issues. As a parent it is also not a good idea to over-react as this tends to push the behaviour underground. A better approach is discussion of the implications on health, or on future prospects if you end up with a conviction. You can only do this as a parent if you are educated on the subject yourself. You do not have to have taken drugs to be informed.

Tiffin Tease

Whilst I do not think that dope is any worse than say, 2 or 3 drinks per joint, (and yes, I know all about the short term memory loss, paranoia etc etc etc - but this has the same effect as alcohol) I would not condone it being smoked on work time as a colleague or as an employer (were I to be one).

I am by no means a stick in the mud and have had the odd drink in my lunchbreak, probably 5 in 3 years LOL but it DID affect my work. It made me more dozy, luckily I was working in design so there was no major threat to the populace or my colleagues (and being as how my boss was the one who bought the drinks, no threat of her telling me off!)

I compare drinking to smoking weed because the effects are similar up to a point and IMO as harmless, yes harmless, as each other up to a point. They both make you do stupid things if you have too much of either and should be considered in a similar context.

And as for someone smoking week at work, yes it's not the most sensible thing to do (because he's responsible to his colleagues too), yes it's illegal and yes, he definately should not be doing it when in control of a vehicle (which no doubt he would have been at some point later) but do I think he should have been fired?? No, probably not, unless there was a written and equal policy of substance use at work.

But, and I believe this is main point, had the guy been treated in the same manner as the other one this thread wouldn't have arisen.

If he was a Hobbit he'da been ok - they loved the weed and it didn't do them any harm .... or the Koala and Lizard... http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=446420