Child welfare needs Joe Rogan’s help. Yes, that Joe Rogan. The same one who was the funny guy in the tv show. The witty comedian who helped us all watch people do gross or scary things while he openly mocked them or leered at them.
Not to stereotype child welfare social workers, but I would guess that most haven’t paid attention to Joe Rogan in a while. The social work type are probably busy watching other kinder, gentler things. But while they weren’t watching, Joe Rogan has become an icon of our time.
He’s insightful, knowledgeable, balanced, incredibly connected, and outspoken. He’s also a fan of the ganja and still hilarious.
And that’s where we need him. (Or someone like him)
If I had to make a blanket statement about the use of marijuana, I would say that I’m not opposed to it. It’s not a thing for me, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be a thing for you. But can it be harmful? Absolutely.
With it’s legalization, we’ve kind of strayed from remembering that. I’ve only been a child welfare social worker for 17 ish years. But that’s enough time to be able to see trends and changes. On the upside, we’ve seen weed go from being a completely illicit substance that would generate big reactions from CPS to the thing that people were willing to say they were disabled to be able to use it, to straight up legalization. In those changing environments, it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.
Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it won’t be abused. If you’ve any doubt, I encourage you to look at our old buddy alcohol. You’ve been able to buy it next to the milk at your local store for every. It’s been legal for most of it’s time in existence, still fucks up relationships and families with extreme efficiency.
But also looking at ye olde alcohol, we know that there are tons of people who can use in moderation or use in such a way that the safety of their children is not impacted. In my non weed user opinion, I believe the same can be true for marijuana.
But here’s the problem.
If child welfare is looking at a situation in which marijuana use could be a contributing factor to a child being in danger, it’s likely that we are going to drug test the person. The challenge with weed is; if you test positive for me today, I don’t know if that means that you used a little today, or a lot at some point in the last few weeks. That information could make or break a situation when social services is at your door. Maybe the pot I’m reading on your test was from last weekend when nothing bad happened. But if I can’t tell, I also have to wonder if you used pot the morning your baby got out in the street. It’s a serious complication.
I imagine it’s a problem for other places too. Such as industrial jobs where reflexes and acuity are important. If there’s an accident, it would be nice to be able to show that the thc the worker tested positive for was from his weekend time and not from the day of the thing.
I don’t think Joe Rogan can fix this on his own, but I think he can help. Dude’s had Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, Lex Fridman, and Neil deGrasse Tyson on his show. Brilliant minds, every one. None have a noted specialty in restructuring marijuana drug testing, but I bet they know a guy.
I don’t know Joe Rogan or anyone who does. I mean, my brother did shoot pool with him one time, but I don’t think that’ll get me what I’m after. So, if you do know Joe Rogan, or some other person who can benefit humanity by improving drug testing; please ask them to do child welfare a solid and help us out.
Thanks for reading!
Bifocals and Barbells 