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Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

marijuanamoment.net

241–250 of 266 posts

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you right now if any job required a drug test, I wouldn't work there. I use cannabis sometimes but it's more the principal of it. It's a privacy violation and positive results don't actually mean you're intoxicated on the job. What people do in their free time is nobodies business so long as it's not harming other people.

> I can tell you right now if any job required a drug test, I wouldn't work there. Airline pilots? People operating dangerous machinery?

What exactly is “dangerous machinery”? I frequently operate overhead cranes, lifting 0,5-5000 kilos. I also smoke pot. To be frank, I would be able to do my job somewhat high, but not drunk. Smoking a joint the day before work has minimal impact on my performance, I would argue it increases it because of a good nights sleep. Drinking alcohol on the other hand…

I wonder if there has been any studies around marijuana impairment and vehicle operation?

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#243

I remember when I was in the Navy, running a nuclear power plant on a ship that carried nuclear weapons, and the Chief of the Boat regularly showed up to work so drunk he couldn't speak (having driven himself to work) and everyone ignored it and when juniors complained seniors threatened to fabricate charges against them to shut them up, and listening to that guy scream and yell about how anyone who smokes cannabis i…

I worked for a while in the military industrial complex. The only legal outlets for modifying your reality were alcohol and sex. So there were lots of people who drank heavily and swapped wives. They were quite open about it, because keeping it a secret could cause you to lose your security clearance (it made you blackmailable). They were also very accepting of whatever your skin color was, because the military demanded it. It was something of a shock moving to an industry job and discovering that racism still existed.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#244
post #243

I remember when I was in the Navy, running a nuclear power plant on a ship that carried nuclear weapons, and the Chief of the Boat regularly showed up to work so drunk he couldn't speak (having driven himself to work) and everyone ignored it and when juniors complained seniors threatened to fabricate charges against them to shut them up, and listening to that guy scream and yell about how anyone who smokes cannabis i…

I worked for a while in the military industrial complex. The only legal outlets for modifying your reality were alcohol and sex. So there were lots of people who drank heavily and swapped wives. They were quite open about it, because keeping it a secret could cause you to lose your security clearance (it made you blackmailable). They were also very accepting of whatever your skin color was, because the military deman…

>it made you blackmailable

Is wife swapping like less blackmailable escape than prostitutes? Clearance life hack.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#245
post #57

Marijuana (along with multi-lingualism) is a big reason why the Mormon-American community is significantly over-represented in the US intelligence community.

Always stood out to me how Mormon expats in PRC had unusually good mandarin skills. They're mainly there to sell farm equipment, but seems hard for teetotalers to do cover work. Hilariously I think ex CIA mormon got busted for selling secrets to PRC.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#246

I remember when I was in the Navy, running a nuclear power plant on a ship that carried nuclear weapons, and the Chief of the Boat regularly showed up to work so drunk he couldn't speak (having driven himself to work) and everyone ignored it and when juniors complained seniors threatened to fabricate charges against them to shut them up, and listening to that guy scream and yell about how anyone who smokes cannabis i…

they definitely have recruiting problems

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#247
post #90
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's because the CIA has been a very self-similar group for decades (Mormons). They have blinders of their own.

I thought it was the NSA that was all Mormons?

tis all of em mang.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t see how someone can possibly be expected to have the personality to gather (human) intel, but somehow not ever have smoked weed. It's not clear to me how these would have absolutely any relationship at all.

Weed is ubiquitous enough in American culture these days that it’s not unreasonable to associate “I’ve never tried cannabis” with religious orthodoxy or some other conservative behavior-limiting values. It’s not uncommon to hear something along the lines of old DARE talking points about gateway drugs or schizophrenia from people that have refused to try it, which can make a person seem like a… square.

aye there is a certain level of flexibility, adaptability, and worldliness that is required to network with people in a way that they'll give you classified information.

gotta be able to hang out on both sides of the tracks, dig?

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#249
post #96
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried finding it but I listened to someone on KQED/NPR who worked for Obama's White House and had to go through a security clearance. She said she used marijuana hundreds of times, and they let her get the job. Something doesn't add up. Or, for your friend's specific job they had different rules. She wasn't an intern or something very low level, but I can't remember her title. Edit: Deputy Chief of Staff for Operat…

Clearance is a funny business. They want to weed out things which can be used as leverage against people with clearance. So - financial stuff is their number 1 clearance issue I've heard. If you're deep in debt, or otherwise demonstrate poor control over your financial life. Next up is being part of the LGBT community - if you're in the closet. I've heard they don't care about people being gay per se, just the secret…

> So - financial stuff is their number 1 clearance issue I've heard. If you're deep in debt, or otherwise demonstrate poor control over your financial life.

True -- can't handle your money why would you deserve to handle the gub'mnts?

But also people massively in debt will get desperate and take bribes. And bribes work.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as republicans continue to say no to that, it's impossible to do. Democrats basically never have actual control over the American Government, it's happened like 4 years out of the past 20, and that's not a new phenomenon. Even in the times they have had "full" control of all portions of government, republican senators are still able to "block" stuff through made up rules and "norms" that democrats don't want…

Please keep partisan politics off of HN.

pffff when has that ever happened? 50% of the threads are proxies for those discussions anyways
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