Impaired on the job or behind the wheel? It’s not just a cannabis problem

The legalization of cannabis in Canada has sparked discussion about workplace and driver impairment, but what about other forms of on-the-job impairment?

As we debate the impact of marijuana in the workplace, it’s a perfect time to examine a wide range of current policies and practices that promote worker fatigue and distraction, while also finding ways to design safer workplaces that minimize or eliminate human error.

Employers and those developing public policy are quite rightly concerned about the impacts of marijuana in the workplace, given the lack of expert agreement about what levels of marijuana in the body create impairment and the lack of an easy-to-administer test.

While experts search for a reliable test for marijuana impairment, let’s remember that alcohol and drugs…