In a post-covid pandemic era, we have learned the work week can be adjusted. We’ve learned that people can work from home and you will still eat with no McDonald’s open, but we also learned it needs goods and workers to function; both categories involve truckers and other long haulers.
The War On Drugs has failed in harm reduction and created its legal, societal harms to progress. In America, like everywhere else with a capitalist system, most people get their start by trading hours for dollars, which empowers the employer, not the employee. What does it matter to the employer what you do on your off time?
The war on the individual has proven to be a failure. Prohibition has failed by creating third-class citizens who could lose their children, jobs, and time behind bars.
Cannabis has not proven to be a roadside or societal hazard; zero tolerance is another archaic way to solve a human problem. We can not arrest our way out nor deter bad behavior with bad laws.
One thing that has made America stand out from the rest of the world is the freedom and rights an individual is born with, but prohibition has created third-class citizens amongst its ranks. Not only do we hinder ourselves with bad policy, but we need to catch up to Canada, Mexico, and soon the European Union- as an American, this is disheartening.
Workers’ rights are one of many examples of the collateral damage of prohibition. A worker’s off-time monitored is an invasion of privacy. Drug tests catch bad employees like a spaghetti strainer holds water.
I write this article not only as a matter of fact but as a plea for those that can speak up for those who can’t; speak up how you can. It matters. Cannabis, marijuana, reefer, the devil’s lettuce has been recreationally legal for ten years, and the States are not worse for legalization. They are better for it. Financially, it’s a cash cow, law enforcement can focus on actual crime, and the citizens do not have to fear the police over something where an overdose is treated with a pizza and a hug.
As the pandemic eased up and the world started to move again, the infrastructure got a slow start because 56% of the truckers who weren’t working tested positive for something they were doing on their off time. Whether it was to treat an ailment or recreationally consume over something harder, all use of cannabis is medicinal – for people and society.
Consumers of cannabis are not asking to operate heavy machinery and smoke while doing it, but legislatures, politicians, and prohibitionists have faith. Faith that consumers of cannabis will know the boundaries of consumption. No one talks about the surgeon or airline pilot that does their job with a hangover, but they’re worried that the same individual will light up right before they do their job; I think not.
The only people smoking while or before working are your clerks stocking shelves or someone doing manual remedial labor like your lawn guy; these people deserve to consume however they want. Prohibition’s purpose has not only failed but also failed our nation.
I conclude this article by directing you to a Facebook group I am creating, Truckers Against Prohibition or T.A.P. So, T.A.P in, and give the page a like and follow. If you have any worker’s tip articles, feel free to send them over.
Before the form of legalization some States have in America, the trimmer to the budtender did not have any employment rights. Now, most are entitled to healthcare with a fair wage, but we have many more hurdles to clear until we are all equal under the law.
Give the page a like, share, or whatever kids do nowadays. It’s power through numbers; only some people need to speak up, but focusing our energy in one direction may help.
