Rain, Rain, Rain…

By Robert L. Hall

Rain is a two-edged sword, I’m finding out.

Like I got a horrible cold last month, but it was raining so bad that I didn’t get out much to catch anything else-like the new Chinese Coronavirus that’s starting up now.

Yeah, yeah. I know it’s in Wuhan in Asia.

But it’s only a matter of time until some illegal dolt gets into the country under the radar, or under a ‘tourism’ cover in order to drop her ‘birth tourism’ baby in order to get it conferred as an American, but infecting our hospitals and spreading out from there as a plague to millions over here.

Just sayin’.

Which is ALMOST as good an idea as allowing CBD (Cannabidiol- an active ingredient of the marijuana plant’s extract) to be advertised as it is now on the airwaves in the form of commercials by average- looking older folks now. Men in suits and ties with a background of an office setting, or attractive mommies in nice dresses with children in the background, playing and cavorting.

And both of them telling us how taking CBD is taking the edge off of the day’s stress and putting them in a better frame of mind, which they cannot exactly explain.

I can explain it.

And in my experience as a manager I actually saw how people using CBD oil were destroyed by using it.

Yeah, because these individuals that I knew were applying for work as drivers and CBD is a prohibited drug in interstate commerce.

So they flunked out in their initial application as driver if they were using.

And if they passed the application orientation, they couldn’t resist the temptation to use it just days or weeks after their first mandatory drug test because they thought they would not be tested again soon.

But then they were tested.

And they were either fired, or put on a permanent drug testing program.

And, boy, their managers and supervisors were s-o-o excited to see that these new drivers were potentially drug users.

It put them in good with the higher-ups all right!

Because then the supervisors had to send them to get drug tests every month and it saddled them with additional paperwork, and also because since those drivers knew they were not to use CBD and they did it anyway and did not declare it… they also could never be trusted again.

Also, when the trucking companies were audited, the federal auditors that came in scoured the files for drivers using CBD, and looked for mandatory drug testing that they were required to complete and pass and that they received a clearance from a medical doctor showing they could return to work after a short treatment evaluation.

There’s nothing like it. And it doesn’t end there.

No, siree!

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain….

it also goes on their permanent record, so even if they quit their present job or they lose it due to drug use, the federal record of CBD use goes with them to their NEXT potential trucking employer.

And when THEY get audited, guess what happens all over again? See how this goes?

Rain, rain, rain.

When it rains, it pours, as they say.

But, say these same CBD-using drivers change jobs to non-driver ones in the future?

What will they answer when they are asked about why they were fired from their last driving job?

Uh-huh.

But maybe they won’t be asked about it over even using marijuana.

You know…just like the police officer won’t ask the same person at an accident scene when the driver collides with another vehicle or person, killing them, and stinks of weed.

Or the judge won’t ask. Or the prosecuting attorney.

Or the family of the deceased.

Or your spouse.

Or your children.

Or your neighbors.

Or your parents.

Forget your employers! It’s like a conspiracy of silence.

Reminds me of the old Simon and Garfunkle song: ‘The Sound of Silence.’ Only, the stats where marijuana is being made legal say otherwise.

And denying the facts will not change thatlike ever! Like the rain when it goes ‘pitter-patter, pitter-patter’.

Only the pitter-patter we hear about CBD and marijuana not hurting anything or anyone isn’t quite as convincing now, is it?

Robert L. Hall is a resident of Marion and has a Bachelor’s Degree in music from the University of Memphis and a Master’s Degree from Florida State University. He is the pianist for Avondale Baptist Church and a writer of fiction on Amazon eBooks.