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DH nearly lost his job because of one night of fun! A lesson...

38 replies

sunandmoon · 12/11/2008 09:52

He went out on a saturday night with his old group of friends. They all had few drinks and shared 2 joints. DH used to smoke regularly before DD was born 3 yrs ago but then since having her, he "became" grown up and stopped buying any weed. He only have the odd joint if any of his friends have one which really happen once every few weeks! Well on the monday after his night out, he went to work and they were doing drug tests.. DH panicked because he didn't know anything about it. His job includes moving from site to site (10 years working for the same company) and he only arrived at that job the week before. The test was done randomly and he was one of them on that monday! Bad Luck really.. He then heard that few weeks ago 2 guys were fired because of a positive drug test. So DH instead of doing the test (which he knew was going to be positif) ran away and came back home extremely upset! He is a really hard worker and do many extra hours etc and his company look very well after him and trained him to be successful at what he does. So he managed to speak to his superiors and he was so ashamed of everything! They were upset that he didn't do the test but gave him an other chance at work. He is back at work this week with low paid! But better than be sacked I guess... And in a month time, we have to pay for him to be drug tested once a month for 6 months so he can start getting paid again the same rate if he proves negative... It has been a very stressful lesson for DH. We are both in our late thirties, he is the bread winner of the family, we have got a mortage and because of a joint, we could have been in a dreadful position! I needed to share our experience to encourage weed smokers to be extremely aware of what can happen because of the drug test at work!!! And remember that one joint with cannabis can stay in your body for up to 5 weeks...

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sunnygirl1412 · 12/11/2008 13:46

Flowerybeanbag is right. My dh works as a manager in the rail industry, which is a totally dry and drug-free industry. Even though he spends the vast majority of his time in an office, he could still be tested for drugs and alchohol, and it is routine after any incident on the railways for the staff involved to be tested.

I take lollipop's point about holidays - railway workers can drink when not on duty, but if found with alchohol in their systems on duty, would be in real trouble - same with drugs.

Bienchen · 12/11/2008 14:07

I hope random testing will be introduced more widely.

DH works in transport and knows of a few drivers that regularly (as in most mornings) turn up worse for wear with drink. They are a liability for the company and a risk to the public.

sunandmoon · 12/11/2008 15:06

Sorry QuintessentialShadow - I hope your house is all back together by Xmas. What a pain! Good Luck.

Well, as some of you say and I know too that Cannabis is illegal! So no more happy joint for DH and let's follow every single rules of what this world has too offer! Not worth losing jobs and losing insurances...

DH is lucky, we will just have to make with less money without arguing! It could have been worst... He got a letter today that he has got to be tested once a week for the next 6 months. THe drug test includes every single illegal drugs which could be find in the blood! The price of the drug test is impressive too since we have to pay for it...
A very expensive joint indeed!!!!
It drives me mad since I know that he doesn't do drugs... oh well let's get on with it!!!

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QuintessentialShadow · 12/11/2008 16:10

Thanks, and what a pity for your dh. The least anybody needs right now is loss of earning. At least he kept his job, and that is a good thing...

Jbck · 12/11/2008 16:21

SG1412 DH is an H&S advisor in the same industry & regularly attends the D&A screenings for their employees, he says he can't understand how some people think they'll get away with the things they try.

sunandmoon hopefully he has learned his lesson 'cos I'd be kicking his ass right now if he was mine. I'd be far scarier than his employers would be if it were DH

Romy7 · 12/11/2008 16:27

random compulsory drug tests the norm where i work. periodically people get caught and get the sack. they know the rules, and ignorance is not an excuse.
i'd be going berserk, not 'oh he hasn't done anything wrong'.
he doesn't do drugs? er, yeah, he does actually, and he got caught.

ShowOfHands · 12/11/2008 16:31

sunandmoon, just to pick you up on an earlier point, cannabis doesn't stay on your hair or more precisely, this isn't what a drugs test looks for. The way they test your hair during drug tests is nothing to do with what is on the hair. This is why the argument 'oh it was passive smoking' doesn't work with hair drug testing. You have to ingest it to test positive for it.

Anyway, sounds like it's blood tests he'll be having.

ShowOfHands · 12/11/2008 16:32

Not sure I was clear there, you have to be smoking yourself to get a positive result, you can't argue it's 'stuck to your hair' because of being in the same room as a joint smoker.

sunandmoon · 12/11/2008 19:56

He won't be doing it again and it is urine test he will be having... and we won't have to worry because he doesn't usuall do illegal drugs.. it just happened to be one night out. I wasnt upset with him Jbck, I am supporting him.. I know that it was the unlucky one off!!! But again it is a lesson to not touch drugs in any case...
Showofhands- I have done so much web reading about the matter and did find out that you could test hair positive by sitting with a cannabis smoker even if you don't smoke! Maybe it is wrong then...

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shopaholicDIVA · 12/11/2008 20:04

glad he learnt, glad some companies take this serious.i think you are great wife. i hope he knows it.

ShowOfHands · 12/11/2008 20:25

sunandmoon, I don't want to go into details on here about why but I know from reading many, many papers/medical journals and interviews/discussion with drug analysts and doctors that spending time with cannabis smokers will not affect the results of a hair drug test. The way in which the thc (tetrahydrocannabinol) metabolises appears a certain way within the hair and this appearance cannot be replicated through having merely spent time with people smoking cannabis. The GC/MS technique (hair testing) tests for metabolites, specific compounds of drugs that are found only once those drugs have been ingested. Otherwise, anybody testing positive can say 'oh my friend smokes' and the test would be completely useless. Additionally, all testing bodies wash hair before testing to remove even any question of external contamination.

WowOoo · 13/11/2008 09:42

I witnessed a v.scary bus/ car collision a few weeks ago.

It was the bus drivers fault as he took a silly risk. He looked awful needless to say. I don't know what he did the night before or if it was tiredness alone.
I refuse to drive when I'm like this - It's not my job lucky for me.

Quint. I hope you have 2 toilets in your house. And that they sort it pronto.

sunandmoon · 13/11/2008 10:10

Thanks shopaholicDIVA, he did thank me for supporting him and he is a great husband too!

ShowOfHands - thank you for confirming about the hair test...

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