With eye on workforce, Shelby nips cannabis in the bud & prohibits commercial use

SHELBY –As home to Pioneer Vocational School and North Central State, the City of Shelby is centered around skilled workplace development. Both schools serve as catalysts helping to enhance the skill set of the area workforce. With the recent state legalization of recreational marijuana, the City of Shelby is trying to stay ahead of the game. After all, it is difficult to have a successful economy when employees are high on drugs.

There is no question marijuana dispensaries will increase drrug positivity rates in the workforce. The downside is, high employees hurt themselves and their co-workers. In order to prevent their city from going down the tubes, City Council unanimously voted to pass an ordinance prohibiting commercial cannabis.

Shelby clergy gave accolades to the Council after passage of the prohibition ordinance went seamless with a 5-0 vote. “We appreciate the Council has the foresight to see that the cannabis industry adversely impacts other existing industries,” says Bishop Anthony Cooper. “Most importantly, cannabis adversely impacts our families and the ability for breadwinners to earn income. As the Bible says, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Studies show employees who use marijuana have 75% higher absenteeism. It is already difficult to recruit and retain workers, and find ones who can pass a drug test. Legalizing recreational marijuana only exacerbates the staffing problem for employers who have to make up for lost time from failed drug tests.

WIth more employees using cannabis, Ohio employers should prepare for an influx of workplace accidents and injuries. Quest Diagnostics found the number of marijuana-positive drug tests performed after workplace accidents soared 204% from 2012 to 2022, coinciding with the trend of more states legalizing recreational use of marijuana. 

Daily testing of all employees can be expensive, operationally burdensome, and can capture marijuana usage as far back as thirty days. On top of that, employees face the reduction or even elimination of workers’ compensation benefits.

In addition to absenteeism, workplace injuries, workplace theft to support drug habits, and the sale of drugs by one employee to another are all issues employers face because of illicit drug use. Moreover, cannabis has measurable effects that impair reaction time in critical situations, slowing reaction time, and decreasing attention. Studies further show a 55% increase in workplace accidents in states that have legalized recreational marijuana, and an 85% higher injury rate for workers who tested positive for marijuana.

Pastor Art Kennard says the cannabis industry not only impairs the workforce, it can also invigorate organized crime. “The Bible talks about the sluggard who does not work. ‘A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man,” the Shelby Pastor said. “It is one thing to malign the work force, it is another to enable criminal enterprises. Right now the City of Denver is fighting organized crime networks burglarizing cannabis dispensaries.”

The ordinance passed by the Shelby City Council states, “The sale of adult-use cannabis does not promote or provide public peace, health, safety, convenience, comfort, prosperity and general welfare to the residents in city limits.” Previously in 2018, Shelby Council passed an ordinance prohibiting the processing, cultivation, and retail distribution of medical marijuana in city limits.

Faith and civic leaders hope the local workforce keeps their nose to the grindstone. “If workers fail to show up for work or have dirty drug tests,” says Cooper, “Companies will either go automated to avoid all the trouble or just leave the area. And that leaves our community without jobs.”

The Bottom Line:

The Bible says in Proverbs Twenty-Nine, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”

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