this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2025
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[–] UnderpantsWeevil 5 points 1 day ago

Exactly why drug testing (with exception of stuff like people operating heavy machinery) is bullshit.

Can't find the context, but there's a one-off line about a small company being bought up by a bigger corporate entity. The CEO was asked about his drug testing policy. He responded, "if we tested our staff then we'd lose half our workforce... and it would be our better half".

On the flip side, I think a lot of the drug culture in the tech, law, and finance sectors is legit horrifyingly toxic. The boozing and bumping and microdosing becomes a way of squeezing extra effort out of your workers, while blunting the immediate consequences of accumulated stress and overwork.

A large population of professions that feel compelled to self-medicate on a regular basis is covering up some deeper chronic physical and psychological problems. Same with the huge swaths of gulf coast and industrial midwest that rolled from oxy to heroin to fent over the last twenty years. Heavy drug use often operates as a whipping boy for more pervasive and insidious social problems - lead poisoning, extreme social anxiety, treatment for PTSD.