I\u2019m pleased to report that my mother has been moved out of the ICU<\/a> into a stepdown unit. While a long recovery looms, we are looking now at the question of recovery rather than survival. My thanks to everyone who has expressed support for my family in this difficult time. Now, back to the political jeremiads for a bit\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n I got my first job in 1985. I was 15, underage, and so it was an under-the-table arrangement, working for a guy who subdivided houses near Towson University (Towson State, at the time) into student apartments. In the three decades since that construction job I\u2019ve gotten paid work as a lifeguard, CPR instructor, movie usher and concessionaire, actor, office assistant and gofer, software developer, writer, musician, massage therapist, and karate teacher \u2014 paid very little in most of these fields, but I\u2019ve obtained some compensation through each them.<\/p>\n And at no time have I peed in a cup to prove I was competent to do the job.<\/p>\n My younger friends may be surprised to learn this, but it was not that long ago that the idea of urinating on demand for an employer would have been universally understood to be ridiculous. As recently as 1986 a federal court found that mass urine testing of firefighters without probable cause was a violation of Fourth Amendment protections<\/a>. It was only as Drug War paranoia and the general trend towards authoritarianism ramped up through the Bush and Clinton (the First) years of the 1990s that companies started boasting about how they subjected their employees to the degradation of chemical drug tests.<\/p>\n It happened that I finished graduate school in 1993, as the trend towards intrusive drug tests was growing. There was an on-line backlash in those days \u2014 something called the Great USENET Piss List<\/a>, a blacklist of companies that invaded employee privacy with urine tests.<\/p>\n I was part of that USENET culture, and a frequent participant in drug policy discussion forums. I made a vow as I entered the workforce: so long as I have the privilege of employment choice, I will use it to push for privacy and dignity. If I have the option, I will not accept employment with a company that performs chemical drug testing without probable cause.<\/p>\n I have no objection to impairment testing<\/a> in safety-critical areas \u2014 that\u2019s the right way to test. But if the only way you can tell if someone is using illegal drugs is via a chemical screen, ipso facto their drug use is not significantly affecting their job performance. Chemical tests are also subject to a high false-positive rate, which can have serious implications. And since the most harmless illegal drug, cannabis, is the only most easily tested for, chemical tests often have the result of encouraging drug users to substitute harder, less detectable drugs. (For example I once knew a fellow in the military who wouldn\u2019t use cannabis on a weekend leave because he was subject to testing \u2014 instead, he\u2019d take LSD, which is much less detectable.)<\/p>\n Given the existence of impairment testing it seems the only reason for employers to piss test employees is either laziness (\u201ceveryone else is doing it\u201d) or employee intimidation \u2014 it\u2019s harder to organize for better wages or working conditions once you\u2019ve psychologically conceded control over your body to an employer.<\/p>\n Americans may also be surprised that widespread drug testing of employees without reasonable suspicion is forbidden in Canada<\/a>. Canada\u2019s Supreme Court found that random testing without justificaiton \u201chas been overwhelmingly rejected by arbitrators as an unjustified affront to the dignity and privacy of employees.\u201d Yet somehow, Canadian workplaces have not been overrun with stoners.<\/p>\n As cannabis use becomes legal in more places under more circumstances here in the U.S., it\u2019s time for a fresh look at the issue. A few years ago an employer here in Maryland might conclude that a person who failed a drug screen had violated the law and have some justification in choosing not to hire a \u201ccriminal\u201d; but with cannabis now legal in DC, it may mean only that they paid a perfectly law-abiding visit to our nation\u2019s capital. Or it may mean they are using cannabis medicinally and legally in a manner that is none of the employer\u2019s business.<\/p>\n I bring this up because I am on the lookout for ways to expand my bodywork therapy practice. One appealing possibility is to pick up one or two days a week working at a wellness center \u2014 not as lucrative as seeing my own clients on a session-per-session basis, but possibly a more steady income stream. I recently fired off a few resumes and got an interview \u2014 including a \u201cpractical\u201d, a sort of audition massage \u2014 at a local center. They were pleased, I was pleased, I got an offer letter.. And then I sat down to read their employee handbook.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, despite the references I gave them, despite giving a great \u201cpractical\u201d to one of their managers, despite the fact that anyone showing up to work as a massage therapist impaired by drugs would be discovered as soon as they put their hands on a client, these folks have a policy that demands that I pee in a cup to prove I am worthy to work for them.<\/p>\n I respectfully and regretfully decline. How can I help clients create better relationships with their bodies when I\u2019m allowing an employer to poke invasively into my own? It seems to me that those of us who work in wellness have a special duty to reject this unscientific and unethical practice.<\/p>\n You can keep up with \u201cThe Zen Pagan\u201d by subscribing via RSS<\/a> or e-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n Please consider supporting this blog with a donation or purchase.<\/a> The Zen Pagan Merch-o-rama has t-shirts, mugs, posters and prints, and stickers designed by yours truly.<\/p>\n If you do Facebook, you might choose to join a group on \u201cZen Paganism\u201d<\/a> I\u2019ve set up there. And don\u2019t forget to \u201clike\u201d Patheos Pagan<\/a> and\/or The Zen Pagan<\/a> over there, too.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My younger friends may be surprised to learn this, but it was not that long ago that the idea of urinating on demand for an employer would have been universally understood to be ridiculous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1860,"featured_media":1023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,23],"tags":[715,716,642],"class_list":["post-1022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-religion-politics","tag-drug-policy","tag-drug-testing","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n
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