There are a lot of problems with employment in our country. Unemployment rates, low wages, huge pay gaps, inequalities, and more things have created a really hard environment for Americans to work in. Everyone is complaining about not finding people to work, while simultaneously not raising wages to incentivize more people to go out and find jobs. Isn’t that like, basic economics and supply/demand? Anyways, the pandemic did not help with the whole unemployment thing in our country. Plus, the people that were able to keep jobs ended up working from home for almost 2 years now. The corporate world in America is finally starting to trickle back into their offices, but only after people have spent 20 or so months locked in their houses and apartments instead of commuting to their 9 to 5 office. What has this done to our workforce? Well, for starters, studies have shown that working from home has been extremely hard on our collective mental health as a nation.

More adults in the United States than ever before have been diagnosed with some sort of anxiety or depression disorder, and many employees have stated that they have experienced higher levels of stress and depression while working from home. I am someone who needs to be around people for at least a portion of the day. Otherwise, I get sad – that is just how it is. Consequently, working fully remote would just be a recipe for disaster for someone like myself. However, with all of the problems that stem from working from home and the pandemic, is it okay to self medicate with marijuana? Of course! But what about during work hours? See, that gets a little more controversial and complicated. Today, I am going to be talking about work culture in America and what it says about using weed while working from home.

I will start this off by saying that I don’t think anyone should be getting blazed while trying to be productive at work. No matter how productive you think you are, no one is going to believe that you are truly more productive than when you haven’t just smoked 4 grams of marijuana. I personally do not blame employees that chose to self medicate their anxiety and depression with weed while working from home. Having a little mood and energy boost is great for productivity and work ethic, and I truly believe that happier employees are more productive. This is also backed by numerous studies as well.

However, I don’t think that employees should be getting super high while working. Not only is it unprofessional, but it’s just not sustainable. Many businesses are starting to accept the idea that their employees likely use marijuana outside of work, and more are coming to the reality that it may even be happening at work (from home) as well. But it’s not so easy to find a balance between using too much weed while working or not enough. After all, shouldn’t people with severe chronic pain be able to find relief from their pain during work hours? But how high can they get before it is too much? It all gets very murky.

As we transition back to working in person or more hybrid style, I think that it is important to talk about this issue with employees and employers alike. If you are getting high at work, that is probably an issue. But if you are microdosing with a 5mg gummy after lunch in order to make it to 5:00pm, I don’t really see an issue.