Different experts on the subject will arrive at various different conclusion regarding the addictive properties of THC - the active psychedelic ingredient in cannabis. The general consensus is that it's not physically addictive in the way nicotine or heroin seem to be. I haven't tried heroin before, but I do smoke tobacco. Although I haven't made a point of keeping close track or anything, it's probably been at least 772 hours and 47 minutes since I last "blazed" a marijuana cigarette. Let's call it a month. Self-judging from my own experience, I would tend to agree with the experts.
So how am I feeling? I'll admit that if I had a bag of B.C. bud within reach at this very moment, I probably wouldn't hesitate to roll-up a little pinner for myself, but I'm not "hurtin' man" - I don't feel at all compelled to seek out a toke or anything. I'm not actively trying to quit weed, I simply haven't made any effort to "score" any for weeks. There were no physical pangs of withdrawal to speak of, but the psychological dependence I managed to form over a decade of habitual and recreational use of the stinky flower cannot easily be dismissed. As I pointed-out in my previous post, it's actually kinda nice to be clear of those resinous cobwebs for a change - the perpetual dopiness of the regular stoner.
Now that I'm "clean", I could probably pass one of those pre-employment drug screening urinalysis tests that the big oilfield companies insist upon having their affiliated contractors administer to new hires. Not that I'm especially interested in pursuing such a line of work anyway, but being surrounded by the industry, the thought did occur to me. Clean or not, I would never lower myself to piss into a cup for anyone other than a family physician anyway. It's a matter of dignity.
Sure there's good companies out there, but humour me by wrapping your mind around this potentiality: Someone with a bit of sway in the company you've been working with for a couple of months suddenly decides they don't like you. Or maybe the board of directors is forced to implement austere measures to free-up capital, and one fateful morning you find yourself being asked to submit to a random drug test - remember, it looks better on the books to fire someone with due cause than to lay them off. Even if you're clean as a whistle, don't think for one second that a seedy lab technician can't be bought-off for the price of fifteen minutes' worth of hand-job in some low-rent massage parlour! If you can buy a false negative, it tells me that the reverse holds true.
Now, not only do you find yourself out of a job, but your reputation is needlessly besmirched. As a working chump with limited means, what recourse do you have? A union? Nobody cares about you! The grease, the muck and the bitumen aren't the only dirty aspects of working in the patch, eh?
Not surprising really, but the whole world of low-skilled working for a living becomes shittier by the day. You can't work in a commercial environment without being under video surveillance the entire shift. I can understand the necessity of it, but it's still dehumanizing. That might seem strange coming from someone who intentionally videotapes himself singing songs to upload them to my You Tube channel, but it's the principal. You Tube isn't forcing me to be on You Tube, and my exposure is controlled by my own executive authority.
When you find yourself working in a convenience store, how can you be assured that the dickwash manager isn't capturing footage from your shift on a drawer-full of flash drives? Maybe even profiting from your likeness by selling the footage of you to a biometrics firm? A bit of a stretch perhaps, but not at all implausible.
I used to somewhat like driving big trucks for a living. Turn the wheel, push the gas. Deliver the cargo, exchange pleasantries with the client, and get the waybill signed. Keep track of your maintenance, and don't crash into anything. Simple enough, right?
These days, I don't think you can expect to get behind the wheel of a company truck that isn't equipped with a GPS tracking device. There's no room for trust in a global economy. The world of logistics is so competitive that every meter of every route needs to be analyzed and micro-managed by the egghead department. Stop-off for a hoagie and a piss at the 7-Eleven, and your mobile phone is going-off before you can even whip-out the ol' firehose!
"What are doing at 7-Eleven, driver eight?"
The future of trucking is headed toward autonomous transport vehicles anyway, and it's likely only a matter of a several more years before human drivers are removed from the equation altogether. The only freight that's not going to be handled by robotic systems will be stuff like flowers and pianos. I remember loading my own upright grand piano onto a pick-up truck - a task I hope to never repeat!
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