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Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

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Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#151

Some of the comments are assuming that all those who smoke pot are irresponsible or unable to do a job if they do smoke pot (this includes people who may only smoke at weekends/parties btw)

And also clearly have never been high enough to realize that they are more likely to be super paranoid and going 10 miles under the speed limit than driving through a fence or running over children. It’s not at all comparable to being drunk.

No, please. I've seen high driving first hand several times. Once after the guy literally told me "it doesn't affect me at all". Proceeded to drive over the kerb and get into the wrong lane.

It is very comparable to being drunk. Some people can in fact handle it, many cannot and severely overestimate their abilities.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving high is still driving impaired. The failure modes may be different, but that doesn't mean someone who is high is safe to drive. I'm not sure what the point of your comment is though, as I don't think anyone is suggesting that these drivers will actually be high while driving. Rather, they are people that use marijuana recreationally and would test positive for THC, disqualifying them from many jobs (despite t…

Driving high is like driving as a grandma. You're hyper vigilant, looking everywhere, your reactions are delayed a little such as that of an 60 year old person, and you're definitely listening to speed "limit" as the maximum, and not as the average.

Yes that third one is a huge problem.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#153
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And also clearly have never been high enough to realize that they are more likely to be super paranoid and going 10 miles under the speed limit than driving through a fence or running over children. It’s not at all comparable to being drunk.

No, please. I've seen high driving first hand several times. Once after the guy literally told me "it doesn't affect me at all". Proceeded to drive over the kerb and get into the wrong lane. It is very comparable to being drunk. Some people can in fact handle it, many cannot and severely overestimate their abilities.

tbf it's possible he was just a crap driver. Either way, while I would never recommend it, I think it is misleading to call it "very comparable". Anecdotally I would say that cannabis impairs quick decision making, and reaction time while driving, and possibly also makes the driver more prone to distraction but I am less sure about that one. Alcohol does both of the first two things, and to a much greater extent, while also obliterating fine motor control, as well as impacting judgement and perception of speed among other things.

So in my completely anecdotal opinion, weed bad, alcohol worse were driving is concerned.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#154

My company fixes recruiting process and software problems. Hats off to Amazon for this. I probably have the pot smoker conversation about once a month, usually with a 50-something or older executive that is running a factory short-staffed. Pot is radioactive for many employers because insurance discounts and employment regulations are stuck in the "Refer Madness" era (Refer Madness was a propaganda film about the dan…

> 50-something or older executive Do you mean to imply or assume that 50-somethings are unfamiliar with marijuana? It was already common for Baby Boomers, who are older than that. What happens is that open-minded, pot-smoking 20-somethings think 50-somethings are close-minded and ignorant. Then 30 years later many of those 20-somethings are the exact same as their predecessors. Instead of dismissing the older generat…

> My company fixes recruiting process and software problems. Hats off to Amazon for this. I probably have the pot smoker conversation about once a month, usually with a 50-something or older executive that is running a factory short-staffed.

Reading between the lines, the exec is trying to hire more workers for their factory, and wants to know if they can stop testing for marijuana so they'll be able to hire more workers. To which the poster, who has recurring experience with this issue, must (unfortunately) recommend against it because of the reasons they enumerate.

Or maybe it was just a close-minded, ignorant ageist comment. Better to assume positive intent though.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#155
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 50-something or older executive Do you mean to imply or assume that 50-somethings are unfamiliar with marijuana? It was already common for Baby Boomers, who are older than that. What happens is that open-minded, pot-smoking 20-somethings think 50-somethings are close-minded and ignorant. Then 30 years later many of those 20-somethings are the exact same as their predecessors. Instead of dismissing the older generat…

> My company fixes recruiting process and software problems. Hats off to Amazon for this. I probably have the pot smoker conversation about once a month, usually with a 50-something or older executive that is running a factory short-staffed. Reading between the lines, the exec is trying to hire more workers for their factory, and wants to know if they can stop testing for marijuana so they'll be able to hire more wor…

I asked, I didn't assume anything.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One more is explaining age discrimination to youngsters. Especially over the damn zoom time video since they don’t show up for work.

Age discrimination goes both ways, it’s not just 40+ workers that experience it

You're on a tech focus site here.

Age discrimination almost certainly goes one way in these cases. That's if you're above 40, and looking to join an early stage start-up, you'll find you're often not a culture fit.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#158
post #118

Of course Amazon is watching out for their business interest, but they are doing the morally right thing here. I do not smoke anything as a personal preference and do not enjoy when second-hand smoke and smell affects me but I support legalization for the simple reason that criminalization of marijuana and stigmatization of pot smokers is much much worse.

Something I learned from a pot smoker: they sometimes mix it with other drugs for higher effects.

I actually inject my marijuanas, personally. Three or four marijuanas is enough to do me in for the night.

But I stay away from the hard shit, like alcohol.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#159

Of course Amazon is watching out for their business interest, but they are doing the morally right thing here. I do not smoke anything as a personal preference and do not enjoy when second-hand smoke and smell affects me but I support legalization for the simple reason that criminalization of marijuana and stigmatization of pot smokers is much much worse.

Except all Amazon has done was taken a group marginalized by the prison system (war on drugs) and is taking advantage of their position (drug testing vulnerable or felon status due to drug arrests) and putting them in a situation where they are at the absolute mercy of Amazon if anything were to happen. (Get T-boned by someone who ran a red light? We'll drug test you and fire you for cause even if you were sober at the time.)

This is an extension of prison labor.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decades of exposure to intentionally misleading propaganda is difficult to ignore. It becomes a part of the worldview, making it hard to even think outside that box.

True. But some part of that propaganda is from pot smokers themselves. Some enjoy the image of the laid-back happy carefree pothead. Their cult leaders (used to be) Cheech and Chong. Maybe they've just bought in to someone elses' worldview. But I don't think so.

As someone with a very personal relationship with marijuana, I really despise the "pothead" culture. The idea that weed makes you permanently stupid or incapable of working normally whilst sober is simply wrong.

Like everything, being responsible goes a long way. There are responsible marijuana users and irresponsible ones. Blaming it on the weed is really the lazy part of "pothead" culture.

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