No, It Will not Be Mandatory to Hire Potheads. Why Do You Ask?

Douglas Wilson is even more worried about marijuana legalization than David Brooks.

[W]hat we are seeing is not an expansion of personal choice, but rather a transfer of personal choice away from responsible citizens and to irresponsible ones.

Perhaps Douglas Wilson has a different definition of personal choice than I do? In my definition, personal choice means that you get to make personal choices. In Douglas Wilson's definition, you apparently get to make personal choices only if Douglas Wilson approves of the choices you make.

Suppose an employer does not want to employ potheads.... [For] a job that the employer believes (rightly) will be affected negatively by the pot.... Suppose... [the employer] has sound reasons for his concern about likely impairment. He has a factory full of very expensive and high-precision equipment. Or he is a hospital administrator writing standards for the neurosurgeons. Or he hires airline pilots who fly passengers around the country.

If the employer does not want to employ potheads, they do not have to, no matter how legal marijuana may be.

Anybody who thinks that the inevitable clashes that are coming between bosses and potheads are going to be decided in favor of the bosses... is a person who hasn’t been paying attention recently.

Illegal reasons to fire or refuse to hire someone:

1. They are female.
2. They are not the same race as you.

Legal reasons to fire or refuse to hire someone:

1. They are gay.
2. They are pretty.
3. They are not pretty enough.
4. They like My Little Pony.
5. They donate a kidney to their boss.
6. They have a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker.

In case you aren't getting the picture, employees can be fired at any time, for any reason. Anybody who thinks that the ongoing clashes between bosses and potheads are going to be decided in favor of the potheads hasn't been paying attention recently.