DO PERFORMANCE TEST FOR SAFETY

Re: "Medical marijuana firing debated," March 28.

The whole logic behind prohibiting marijuana on the job is to insure
that employees are capable of doing their jobs safely. A drug test
does not answer the question of whether a worker can function safely.

A fairer way of preventing problems would be to administer a
performance test. If an employee fails the test, he/she goes home
for the day. If they show up impaired on a regular basis, then fire them.

Marijuana causes so little interference with performance that road
driving studies show that stoned drivers are actually safer drivers
than teetotalers.

A simple roadside inebriation test can instantly show if a person is impaired.

Tests that indicate marijuana use that might have occurred weeks
earlier are fraudulent.

The bottom line is that marijuana causes no serious impairment.
("Incidence and Role of Drugs in Fatally Injured Drivers K W
Terhune, 1992 p. 100)

Floyd Krautner

Bakersfield, Calif.