I was looking forward to a mellow, relaxed Fall term, when the office of human resources sent me this memo:
Dear Faculty and Staff,
As you may have read in the news, Governor Walz recently signed a bill into law legalizing the use of marijuana for recreational purposes by adults age 21 and over as well as the right to grow up to eight plants for personal use. The new law will also decriminalize its possession and expunge misdemeanor marijuana offenses from criminal records.
While the new law may begin to shift societal norms outside the workplace, University employees will still be expected to follow the University’s Drug-Free policy, Smoke-and Tobacco-Free policy, and Code of Conduct, which outlines the responsibilities of employees to “act according to the highest ethical and professional standards of conduct” and “be personally accountable for individual actions.”
As has been the standard procedure in the past, employees who violate these policies and perform work while impaired due to the use of controlled substances are subject to disciplinary action, including termination. Additionally, while the new law allows for the growing of cannabis plants at home, no such plants grown for personal use are allowed on any University property nor should such plants be visible on camera during remote work. Please also note that the legalization of marijuana at the state level does not change the federal DOT Drug policy for drivers, of which the University has about 100 employees. All members of our University community are responsible for encouraging compliance with these policies.
If you, or someone you are concerned about, need help with substance misuse, the University has resources available to you, including confidential counseling and chemical health consultation through the Employee Assistance Program and mental health resources for University employees and their dependents enrolled in the medical plan.
We appreciate your awareness and compliance with this issue in support of protecting the health of our entire community.
Darn. I guess the backup plan is MDMA.
(No, actually, I don’t partake of anything anymore, not even alcohol. I have no idea what the students will be doing to make my classes tolerable.)
Note that “running a private blog” does not count as “remote work for the university.”
“nor should such plants be visible on camera during remote work. ” This statement pissed me the fuck off. If the U wants to control my remote work environment, they can pay part of my mortgage, electric bill, and internet connection.
I think I’ll print out pictures of cannabis plants and tape them up all over my on site office. Not illegal to have pictures of plants.
It’s not even illegal to have the real plants here in Minnesota!
I’m not very good with houseplants, but now I’m tempted to set up a nice pot plant in a pot here at home.
You should. It’s a fun and rewarding house plant.
Additionally, while the new law allows for the growing of cannabis plants at home, no such plants grown for personal use are allowed on any University property nor should such plants be visible on camera during remote work.
Even if you’re a botany professor teaching about cannabis cultivation? That’s pretty harsh.
Well, at least you get to grow your own, unlike here in NJ.
I had a neighbor who grew one just as a houseplant. I’m plant crazy so I got jealous 😂 It was an attractive plant as a 2 ft tall multi stemmed houseplant but would have been useless for anything else . Another neighbor down the block used to take the seeds out of his stash outside by the curb. More maryjane seedlings grew there than grass. The owner of that house kept that well mowed
Based upon the letter, I think that alcohol is still OK. Just no drugs or tobacco.
That said, I’ve no clue what the university smoking and tobacco policy is.
I do wonder though, if one is teaching a farming extension and covering industrial hemp, is that still prohibited?
For the longest and federally, it still is/was illegal in the US and we had to import industrial hemp from Canada. Pity, it’s a very useful fiber and the plant does literally grow like a weed.
My former brother in law used try to grow too many plants indoors in a tiny planter with piss poor nutrient deficient soil . He asked me to water them which I did as I knew they were too weak to live long . He tried to correct the soil by putting too , too much plant food on them. He actually wondered why they all died when they finally made it to about 6 inches tall.
I am wearing a 45/55 hemp/cotton vest (singlet?) and ditto long sleeved t-shirt as I sit and type this. Hemp is a great fibre for clothing, the hemp/cotton mix gives you durability and softness. I have a lot of different clothes in that mix because they are comfortable and they really last while maintaining their shape, an all round win, especially as growing hemp mproves the soil structure.
You can grow it, just don’t show it.
I’m reminded of Michael Pollen’s story in Botany of Desire about growing a plant near his home…I think it was Connecticut…that grew to some remarkable height…10 feet or more. He almost panicked when a local police officer visited about an unrelated matter, but fortunately the cop didn’t see or recognize the plant.
@7 UMN campuses are dry….except the campus club so dean’s and other important people can imbibe on campus. That being said, I teach a course on brewing and we do in fact brew beer and sample a variety of beers throughout the course. (We fill out a bunch of paperwork and all students are over 21.)
Lorax @ 11, well, you could get with the chemistry department and do a study on distillation… ;)
Then, a block on tincture extraction, covering also solvency by percentage ethanol. Found the hard way that high percentage ethanol was far inferior to diluted to 40 – 50% ethanol in extracting vanilla. Something that I suspected, as the ethanol that I used was close to the azeotrope point. 60% or higher gave diminishing returns on extraction.
The reading?
@2. Lorax :
Yeah, I wonder if that would count as plants visible tho? Depending on exact wording and interpretation? Also about students sharing a house with others or renting from landlords where they don’t control the environment? Or if you’re doing a field trip (like we used to do in control weeds and identify native plant courses for TAFE) and stumble unexpectedly across a plantation or plants growing in the wild?
Anyhow, that does seems like a really unworkable and excessive rule there.
This seems like the university is playing don’t ask, don’t tell. Not coming to work high is a pretty reasonable requirement, I’m pretty sure you aren’t allowed to work stoned at the weed store. And given that the remote work in question is dealing with students, and you are on the clock, not having pot plants visible also seems like a reasonable request. I mean, I’m all for democratic workplaces, but I have a feeling that “don’t show up to teach classes stoned” is one of those rules that will take a long time to atrophy. Except maybe art classes, those are probably fine. And frankly phys ed would be better if everyone involved had a few puffs before they started. Hard sciences, though, those don’t feel like classes that should be taught stoned.
Stuart Smith:
Except geology, of course.
The wossname, chemical called “extacy” (MDsomething someting) is probably safer than pot, as long as you stay hydrated.
Pharma-grade, you could trust it to be free of additions of amphetamine and other garbage.
I do not know what effects you would get by ingesting it before class.
An intense sense of wellbeing while doing algebra?
…and LSD literally has no lethal dosage, but it would be bad if a student thinks the lecturer is a monster and tries to bash his head in.
If you take LSD before a geology class, it would be appropriate to hallucinate people being silicaceous entities like trolls.
I think the biggest issue holding back wider acceptance of pot is the inability to determine if someone is still impaired. For alcohol a blood test is sufficient, but for weed it sticks in the system up to 30 days. Therefore places like hospitals will require abstinence from their employees since they can not prove that the doctor wasn’t high when doing a procedure.
birgerjohansson @ #18/19 — In all the times I took LSD over a period of 10 years or so, I never had an hallucination of the sort you describe: no monsters, no seeing things that aren’t there…mostly just jittery patterns on walls and staying awake. Even the aural effects at Grateful Dead concerts were not out of line with reality. Of course, that assumes the stuff I took was actually LSD. I have no way of knowing. I eventually got bored with staying up all night and being strung out for several days afterward, so I stopped.
I don’t know about “lethal dosages” but I bet my MD and my cardiologist would discourage me from taking it now given the state of my heart.
whywhywhy @ #20 — The assumption seems to be that any amount of marijuana causes impairment. I find small quantities help me focus, but over indulgence distracts me…I’ll end up just playing the guitar and not get anything “important” done. Edibles have a bigger impact on me that’s difficult to predict, so I use them cautiously.
I vape small amounts of cannabis to help me focus on whatever I’m reading, and make it easier to ignore minor pain.
birgerjohansson @ 19, I can do that without the chemical. Just go without sleep, then dream.
Equal magic, equal invalidity. GIGO comes to mind, Garbage In, Garbage Out.
For other parts of your failed premise, I’m reminded of toxicology 101, the dose makes the poison.
whywhywhy @ 20, you described an intentionally deficient test. I routinely get tested for free T3 and free T4, vs bound versions of those hormones, the difference literally being life and death.
But, we can test for an endogenous hormone and can’t detect bound and unbound exogenous levels? Oh wait, it’s still illegal to try to research things, science is bad, political bullshit is god, erm, I mean good.
Until you provide a dose dependent result, you’ll find precisely zero traction and properly so.
@robro, there is no dose in such things, as there is no precision dosing possible. One is literally going for 18th and 19th century dosing, while viewing things from a 20th century purified drug context, which will always fail. Look up laudanum, compare it to morphine for post-operative pain treatment. As much as I personally loathe morphine, I do value it within that context.
As for cannabis smoking, someone nearby smokes up on a regular basis around 4:30 AM. I’m highly allergic and the last two times, I’ve vomited up after a massive coughing fit, blood from a torn esophageal lining.
Don’t get that from any other smoke.
Anyone wanting an image of blood in that toilet, feel free to ask and provide a link or e-mail. Excuse the lack of focus, wasn’t feeling well enough to get my reading glasses to ensure quality.
… nor should such plants be visible on camera during remote work.
So I guess an array of bottles would cause no problems.
… the new law allows for the growing of cannabis plants at home…
Law, schmaw – the Insane Cat sets acceptable houseplant policies chez Myers!
Houseplants are OK, as long as they’re catnip?
Back when I had cats, we’d quarrel over the catnip, as I do enjoy the occasional cup of catnip tea.