10 Percent of Americans Have Come to Work High on Marijuana

Almost 10 percent of Americans have come to work high on marijuana.

In a Mashable study, 9.7 percent of respondents said that they had smoked marijuana before coming into the office. Of those who answered affirmatively, 81 percent reported that they purchased the marijuana illegally. According to CNBC, marijuana is legal to purchase for recreational use in Washington and Colorado, and medical marijuana is legal in 23 states and Washington, D.C.

Mashable and SurveyMonkey collected the data by questioning 534 members of the SurveyMonkey Audience.

Cully Stimson, manager of The Heritage Foundation’s National Security Law Program, is skeptical about the results of the poll, “I’m not sure how statistically significant it is, as it’s such a small sample size.”

But Stimson thinks the poll, and others like it, should be “a wake-up call” for businesses to have specific, written policies regarding marijuana use – even though most businesses are not required to do so:

“Companies should conduct random drug testing. Marijuana use contributes to a lack of productivity in the workforce; it impacts your alertness, your ability to do your job. It’s not good for anyone in the long term and it’s a potential liability for employers when employees who are high go out and hurt someone on the job.”

Stimson said that the poll is indicative of a media and culture that doesn’t see pot as a big deal.

“It’s a very sad, predictable path,” he argues, “and it’s only going to get worse unless people wake up.”