cannabisnews.com: The Weed and The Web
The Weed and The Web
Posted by CN Staff on July 31, 2002 at 13:07:13 PT
Technology News
Source: BBC News
Some people seem to be taking the "high" in hi-tech rather too literally. A survey about cannabis use has found that people who work in the technology industry are the most likely to have tried the drug. The results reveal that almost a third of those who admitted they had tried cannabis worked in the technology and telecommunications industries. Overall the survey found that 72% of those questioned admitted that they had tried the drug at one time or another.
Top tokers Almost 92% of the people that work in the technology and telecommunications industries answered "yes" to the survey's question asking if they had ever smoked cannabis. "Obviously, cannabis users work in a variety of professions," said James Malach, creative director at technology firm TongueWag which commissioned the survey, "but the high proportion of users in the IT sector is considerably higher than we suspected." The industry sector with the second largest group of admitted users is the financial world in which almost 79% said they had once been users of cannabis. Least likely to be cannabis users were those employed in the leisure and travel industry. Only 61.5% of those questioned that worked in this group confessed that they had used it. Despite being the biggest group of users, technology workers were not the most regular smokers of cannabis. About 22% of those questioned who work in the teaching profession said they tried the drug on almost a daily basis. The survey questioned 1000 people aged between 18 and 35 across the UK. Source: BBC News (UK Web) Published: Wednesday, July 31, 2002Copyright: 2002 BBC Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ Contact: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/Related Articles & Web Site:TongueWaghttp://www.tonguewag.com/Drug Activity Widespread on Internet Says Panelhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12112.shtmlSilicon Valley Rolls Out More Than Just Chips http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11610.shtml
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Comment #22 posted by John Tyler on August 02, 2002 at 10:39:12 PT
Just a thought
This is strange. I've been in IT for 23 years. I been teaching IT classes part time for over 10 years. I never knew so many other IT'ers were here.
P.S. It is good to hear new voices coming on board.
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Comment #21 posted by SpaceCat on August 01, 2002 at 11:30:29 PT
Surprised at the numbers?
Obviously they haven't been paying attention. I agree with the earlier comment that Music has got to be number one, though.On the topic of why doesn't IT unionize (aside from the fact that we were all weaned on Heinlein and therefore distrust large agglomerations of power): Well, why do people unionize? Because they're being treated unfairly by management. During the boom times, when 3% raises were standard in my organization, IT folk got 11-15% without even asking. Right now, after a round of layoffs, they are announcing a new pay scale exclusively for IT that should boost our salaries by 20%. Why? they have to. You want those beige boxes to keep humming, you have to pay the piper, or we'll take our rats and find a better ship. Management is already afraid of us, why unionize?
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Comment #20 posted by herbdoc215 on August 01, 2002 at 09:21:37 PT
Sorry, here is link that works....
Placed to many letters.....steve
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.asp?id={D5832AF9-A751-4833-832D-A1C
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Comment #19 posted by herbdoc215 on August 01, 2002 at 09:18:13 PT
Check this story out!!!!!!
Hey everybody read this, we are now becoming little America as the wanna-be pigs here are now using tricks that are beyond the pale here. This will never fly, those islands would dry up to dust if nobody grew pot there, the town of Nanimo they are talking about 3/4 of houses and business's are empty now and this will probably kill the town, Sunshine Coast is included in this. Smoking a joint on the back of the ferry is a ritual that EVERYBODY joins in and it has been the highlight of my day many times. This is also how 90% of pot in Canada gets to market! Bullshit is getting thick here, Peace, Steven Tuck
http://http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.asp?id={D5832AF9-A751-4833-832D-A1C
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Comment #18 posted by E_Johnson on August 01, 2002 at 00:58:35 PT
What if drug testing DID save money?
Using arguments of cost effectiveness instead of human rights can be dangerous because some things are just wrong whether they save the company money or not.It's an inherently Soviet idea for the employer to be united with the state in monitoring the private life of the worker.Many aspects of Soviet authoritarianism were very cost effective. For example, the mail carrier was also supposed to spy on people who were at home during the day. In a society where unemployment was illegal, people at home during the day were either criminals, or working people who might be robbing the state/employer of money by pretending to be home sick from work.Having the government spy on everyone every day all the time could reduce workplace absenteeism quite a bit.Well, that's how their Marxist paradise was organized.
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Comment #17 posted by dddd on July 31, 2002 at 23:57:38 PT
..Welcome Kain....
....People like you are the hope of the future......I wish you luck finding corporate employment...[dont let 'em pay you in stocks..]...and beware ...one failed drug test,and you will be a pariah.
...dddd
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on July 31, 2002 at 22:40:05 PT
Kain
Welcome to C News. Good Luck in school too.
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Comment #15 posted by p4me on July 31, 2002 at 18:58:24 PT
The one day boycott
My belief has always been that the leaders of the reform movement should choose one day not to buy anything. Say Tuesday for example. Buy all your supplies and make sure you have enough gas before Tuesday. Then when Tuesday comes you take your lunch with you because Tuesday is a day not to spend money. You drive to work and when you get off you go home and have a thrifty meal. Now if you are whimpish, you could do things, but the whole object is not to spend any money on Tuesday. Not even lunch at the school cafeteria or the soda machine at work. Spend no money on Tuesday and the hardcores could just stay out of the stores to make them look empty. Everyone would have to ask what is going on.I think this an excellent idea, but like always we cannot get everyone to act like a cohesive group like the ultra right wing that now is running the country in the ground.
We are going to have to vote Congressmen out of office and we are going to have to vote with our money. They used to have those Meatless Monday type things to win WW2.If we could just make a unified effort that made the public aware of our intent to change things and bring the subject to everyone's water cooler and dinner table, it could really end quite quickly. Of course the reformers have no leader with a great following and we cannot act like our fanatical right wingers, so we will just have to wait until the old die off and the world advertises for cannabis users to come experience the freedom.Even Christian mythology called for a day of rest. Now how hard would it be to only spend money 6 days a week? It is just depressing knowing we could cut their jugular with a Tuesday boycott and we cannot work together and make a show that cannot be denied attention.Surely people of the choir still support the newspapers and conglomerate magazines even though we have the internet. Just because of coupons, comics, and the sports section the reformers will not abandon their conglomerate media in support of the fight for freedom.I really wish I had a phat one.1,2
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Comment #14 posted by culebra on July 31, 2002 at 18:29:54 PT
A Day of Peaceful Protest...I Like That!
We run the world in more ways than this, my friends. I have often fantasized about a day in which every person who has compassion for the cause just walks off of their jobs...never to return until cannabis is made immediately and irrevocably legal. Pandemonium would reign supreme.Of course, there are problems with this fantasy...but that's why it is a fantasy, after all. I dabble in website design/programming and a good deal of my family makes their living this way, and all enjoy cannabis. In fact, almost all of their affiliates, bosses, employees, servers etc. do as well. Sure makes staring at screens full of code all day more bearable.
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Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on July 31, 2002 at 17:31:53 PT
My point exactly
9) Drug testing is something that belongs in a totalitarian society, not a free one.
This is the only reason. All of the others are ways of making this one not the only reason and I am against this not being the only reason.To me it is like bargaining with a rapist. This is psychosocial rape. They're in our pants. That never should have happened.In the feminist antirape movement, they don't give a list of reasons why rape is bad.It's important to educate people but beware of the subtext you are communicating when you bargain with people out to sexually assault you.
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Comment #12 posted by firedog on July 31, 2002 at 16:23:45 PT
A few reasons...
EJ, I agree that only one reason should be necessary, but...Part of my goal is to get people to question the whole idea of drug testing in the first place. And for that, multiple reasons are good to have:1) It's a waste of the company's money.
2) It's insulting and degrading to the employee.
3) European and Canadian employees don't have to go through this. It's a human rights violation in Canada, so it's a human rights violation here.
4) The tests don't distinguish between on-the-job and off-the-job use. I might have gotten high one day three weekends ago.
5) The tests are really only effective for detecting one drug, the least harmful one of all, and push people to use other, more harmful drugs.
6) There's no proven link between marijuana use and decreased productivity. One could argue the opposite in the IT industry. We probably wouldn't even have an IT industry without marijuana.
7) There's the very real risk of false positives.
8) If performance is the issue, fire someone for lack of performance - but not because they belong to a persecuted group.
9) Drug testing is something that belongs in a totalitarian society, not a free one.And there are plenty more!A few of these points should raise doubts in the mind of anyone who still has one!
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Comment #11 posted by E_Johnson on July 31, 2002 at 16:02:52 PT
You should only need one
A while back, I've made the decision that if my company were to ever start drug testing (which it doesn't), I would refuse to take the test. And I would give them a whole list of reasons why not.If you have one good reason on your side, it shouldn't need friends to help it out.The best reason to give for refusing a urine test is because you refuse it.
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Comment #10 posted by firedog on July 31, 2002 at 15:57:07 PT
IT workers unite!
I've always wondered why IT workers haven't unionized yet. Yet we're constantly connected to this network that would make it so easy to do.A while back, I've made the decision that if my company were to ever start drug testing (which it doesn't), I would refuse to take the test. And I would give them a whole list of reasons why not. The same goes for any company that I might apply to in the future.After all, the Canadians have decided that random drug testing is a human rights violation, except in certain high-risk jobs. The Europeans won't have any of it, either. Why should Americans accept it?Regarding the power we have to bring down the system - yes, we could do it, assuming we organized. But then, our current administration would have a brand new "terrist" group to fight. Shrub would just declare martial law and send all IT workers to concentration camps. And imagine the speeches about the "evil hackers on drugs" being a "threat to society" and all that...Not that I don't like the sound of it... ;)
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Comment #9 posted by JSM on July 31, 2002 at 15:55:22 PT
WOW
Things are getting crazy in a wonderful way. Come on folks, it is time to stand up and be counted. Change is in the wind and it feels great, but beware - this will not end without a struggle.
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Comment #8 posted by Kain on July 31, 2002 at 15:36:59 PT:
Count me in
Been reading this message board for a few months now, and this is my 1st post. I just had to say that I'm one of the aspiring Telecommunication students at Devry University who hopes to join the ranks of Corporate IT stoners.
Been smoking for about......uhhh.....4years now? I think? ;)
The fun part is, your right kaptinemo. There are those of us who will stand up for our rights as individuals. I will be the one holding my finger over that switch.
The only reason I choose to join a corporation is that one must know his enemy well to have any hopes of defeating him.
Keep your eyes peeled the next few years, people. There are so many more like me in the IT business. We will control the media, mabey not soon or quickly, but we gain a tiny bit more ground evey day. I just wish people would wake up.....
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on July 31, 2002 at 15:32:21 PT
Time to plan now
The next 4/20 could be the best ever.
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on July 31, 2002 at 14:07:25 PT:
Just like I said
I keep mentioning here the very thing this study supposedly (how many didn't answer the question honestly?) points to: the very people businessmen can least afford to piss off with their anal predilection for trying to control their employee's lives...hold their fingers above the switches that can crash and burn their precious financial empires.Now just imagine if IT workers unionized? And said loud and clear that piss-testing is a violation of our rights? The companies can't get Apu and his fellow H-1B visa people back because of the new security regulations. Interesting scenario, yes?
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on July 31, 2002 at 13:59:25 PT
And the name
International Marijuana Prohibition Non-participation DayA peaceful day of resistance to the growing international narkocracy
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on July 31, 2002 at 13:57:15 PT
Strike on 4/21
We should all celebrate the next 4/20 together on the Internet (it's a Sunday) and then go on a one day strike on 4/21.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on July 31, 2002 at 13:48:47 PT
EJ I Like That!
Gosh if this is true then WE RUN THE WORLD
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Comment #2 posted by null on July 31, 2002 at 13:45:13 PT
film biz
Well really they probably ought to question 1000 people in each industry to get a good measure.A number of my good friends work for some of THE BIG computer companies. Their observations do seem to jive with this survey.I myself work in film/tv and am willing to bet that this is the actual #2 business second only to the music industry. I would also wager that the percentage in Film is higher than in TV. I mean c'mon... do you think we would have knock visual & aural FX in movies without drugs. Fantasia never would have happened.
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on July 31, 2002 at 13:32:34 PT
Hey wow let's use this power
Gosh if this is true then WE RUN THE WORLDIf marijuana consumers really run the IT industry then imagine what we could do if we ever organized an international one day strike!We're more powerful than French air controllers!About 22% of those questioned who work in the teaching profession said they tried the drug on almost a daily basis.Now we know how they cope with those long hours and that inadequate pay.
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