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While the revelation that B.C. Ferries employees were getting high on the high seas has undoubtedly worried coastal B.C. travellers, ferry crews are hardly the sole dope-smoking workers in the country.
"It's definitely more prevalent in the workplace than most people realize," said Nicholas Barry, a drug and alcohol counsellor in Saint John who works with companies to root out addicted employees. "I see it all the time."
The Transportation Safety Board discovered the pot problem while it was investigating last year's sinking of the B.C. Ferries ship Queen of the North. While the board didn't find a direct link between marijuana use and the nautical disaster, which killed two passengers, it did advise the ferry corporation last week to butt out the problem.
In a survey on drug use in Canada conducted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, 14 per cent of adults in the country identified themselves as marijuana users, and around one per cent reported smoking up while on the job.
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But those numbers increase significantly among workers in forestry, mining, and construction industries, according to a 2002 survey conducted by the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission.
In Alberta's oil patch, where safety depends on alert rig workers, drug testing is more common than it is in most other workplaces. Mobile drug-testing units are dispatched to rigs involved in accidents. Many drilling companies insist on urine tests from new recruits before they are hired.
Some rig workers think that a little leniency should be shown toward the potheads among them.
"There are some guys I wouldn't even let near the rig if they haven't had their morning joint," said a crew chief for Nabors Drilling who didn't want his name published. "They are the type of person who just can't function without it."
Blue-collar workers are not alone in the marijuana fog.
"There are a lot of lawyers and doctors out there who like a joint once in a while," Mr. Barry said. "Some may be able to handle it fine, others have addictions."
Actors, musicians and other performers prone to stage fright are known to blaze bud before a gig.
"You'd see a lot more dope-smoking at a bar gig than you would at a classical recital," said Peter Jones, a sound technician and musician in Montreal, "but that's just a generalization. I know an amazing classical piano player who smokes a ton of dope right before he goes on stage."
According to recent news reports, the Canadian military has kept hundreds of Afghanistan-bound soldiers home in the past year after their drug tests turned up positive, mostly for cannabis.
Drug abuse researchers say no amount of marijuana use is safe in occupations where public safety is at risk. Even a small amount of pot will impair motor skills and brain function, said Robert Coambs, head of consulting firm Health Promotion Research.
"It would be fair to say that ubiquitous cannabis use will lead to an increase of accidents and other dangerous problems wherever you work."
That includes office work. The average cubicle dweller's job might not be a matter of life and death, but they'll be more prone to screwing up even minor tasks with cannabis in their systems.
"If you're stoned, your output will drop and the quality of your work will drop," said Dr. Coambs, who believes marijuana use is just as common among office workers as industrial workers.
Canada's human-rights legislation bars companies from instituting drug tests unless public safety is at risk.
Even when drug tests are conducted, their accuracy often comes into question. Traces of cannabis will show up in urine weeks after a test subject smokes up.
"You might have a situation where somebody smokes a joint at a party weeks ago and they still test positive," Mr. Barry said.
"That's a situation where an employer probably doesn't have to worry. Cannabis has been demonized, but there are much more serious drugs out there to worry about."
