I would encourage you to go to the Oshkosh Community Media website and watch the debate in Tuesday night’s Common Council meeting over reducing the fine for possession of marijuana. It will provide you some interesting insight into the growing drug culture not just here in Oshkosh but throughout the United States. That is, once you get past the persecution complex of the speakers who feel that they have been wronged by an unjust law and justice system.
It was comments from Councilmember Caroline Panske that really got me thinking: “We aren’t just a bunch of stoners sitting around on the couch eating Doritos. We are elected officials, we are doctors, we are teachers, we are parents, we are students, we are all types of people”
Obviously, she is referring to herself when she talks about “elected officials”. However, Panske tried to play the victim card claiming to have taken a “free joint from someone else” before her arrest for driving with pot in her car in Waushara County over the summer. But think about a doctor that is smoking weed. I’m guessing she’s referring to a D.O.–who prefers “holistic” and “non-Western medicine” techniques honed from a time when humans lived to an average age of 36. Do you want the person responsible for properly diagnosing a life-threatening illness–or performing surgery on delicate body parts to be toking up to “take the edge off”?
As marijuana use gains more social acceptance, it will force those of us who expect professionalism and expertise in some fields to eventually have to ask, “Are you a pot smoker?” Can you honestly say that you are okay with a surgeon that may have been “getting baked” the night before you go to the OR? Will you feel no nervousness knowing the pilot on your next flight has a dime bag in his carry-on up in the cockpit? Are you okay knowing that guy fixing the brakes on the crossover you drive the kids to school in everyday hits up the bong?
The common retort from the pro-pot folks to questions like that is “Well alcoholics hold all those jobs too”. Too which I would say, I don’t want drunks fixing my aorta, or flying my plane or making sure that my wheels aren’t going to fall off my Jeep at highway speed either. And that is why employers should be testing their employees on a regular basis and firing (or not hiring) those that fail those tests.
So continue your fight for your right to light up Councillor Panske, just don’t expect the rest of us to support you or any of your so-called “professional” pot smokers.
