00:00.00 archpodnet Said they'll come up in context or not. We'll read them in segment 3 or welcome back to this sira Mark Podcast episode 87 and we are talking about drug use not just drug use in the field which I'm sure just happens but the. 00:00.00 Heather Yeah. 00:17.21 archpodnet The fan was specifically talking about drug use to deal with certain things like pain and fatigue and um I think it's I think it's been mentioned in a couple different ways now but there are I mean there are circumstances where you're prescribed something that may you know may hinder your ability to do something and you really have to pay attention to that lot times we don't right like you're just like. Oh you know don't operate heavy machinery and you're like well I don't operate a bulldozer but that means a car too or a field truck. So If you're on like oh sure. Yeah yeah I mean yeah, you don't want to be impaired when you have to be. 00:42.20 Heather Or or it else or you're around heavy equipment think about it. You know. 00:52.87 archpodnet Kind of like on your game right? and and even like I said even with this is a prescribed drug. Yeah yeah for sure and I would probably disclose that to my employer obviously unless it was I mean if there's a work related injury. They probably know some about it. But if they. 00:55.14 Heather You're walking around grading excavators. Yeah yeah, it doesn't make sense. 01:08.80 archpodnet If they don't then you should probably disclose something that you're being prescribed and taken just you know, just so people know and and also if something happens to you in the field and I don't know maybe you pass out for some other reason or you're unconscious and they have to call 9 1 or some 9 one 1 or something happens. Maybe somebody'll know that you're actually on some sort of progressive. Prescription medications so you don't be given something that could conflict with that right? Especially if it's something something heavy like opioids or something like that but chances are if you're on those I can't imagine you're you're probably doing field work anyway or probably shouldn't be doing field work if I had to guess but I don't know Doug go ahead. 01:47.14 Doug So um, most countries legally you do not have to disclose any medical conditions to your employers I ah definitely know because I've had to do stuff looking at the laws in the U K and vaguely for the us. Um, and there's there's some pretty good reasons for that and I know we're talking about sort of the more fun recreational drug side of things and and for pain and whatnot. Ah, but there's a whole other I mean there's a whole other class of drugs as well. Um, you know people with ah mental health issues might be on lithium and that can definitely affect your ability to do certain tasks. But then again, there's a lot stigma around that and um, as much as I'd like to say that like every employer is understanding and will work with you. There are some that aren't so it is um I would generally say um from a health and safety point of view that you should be disclosing these things and there's a range of things some of those some things you might be on also might affect your ability to process heat. Ah so certain medications you can get really sunburned much easier or you don't um, so basically you can't sweat out as much affects your ability to sweat or regulate your heat and there's a whole list of Medications. Ah fame we we posted up a. 03:17.80 Doug Ah paper so you can go look at like oh god it's it's it's dozens upon dozens of medications um, and so those are other things that like even if it's minor can really affect your health and generally I'd say it's good to talk to your employer about this because as Chris said if you pass out. Um, or if you know you need to get a little bit extra shade or you know carry more water these various things. Um you might need for different medications. That being said, you know some employers will they won't they can't fire you for that. Um, but they might find a way to not rehire you not take you on. Um generally I'd say um, it's a good way to weed out bad employers but you may not be in a financial place to be able to have that decision. So. It's always tough. Um. 04:15.38 Doug Um, a health and safety point of view knowing that is really good but I understand from a you know, being able to stay employed that may not always be an option. 04:24.90 Heather Yeah, you know so I I understand there are some people that have these stigmas and they're not.. They're very strict and they're not willing to look at circumstances. However, you have to look at the practical side of things if you have been hired to do a job. That let's say is on a military base or you're being Hired. You're specifically hired especially in the as native position to do a job that requires you to be around very heavy equipment and to be very aware and on top of your game. It is a liability for a. Employer to be putting you out there knowing that you were under the influence of some medication even though it's prescribed it's Legal. There's no issue with it. It's just like if somebody was walking around with crutches and they're not. Agile they're not able to move away or out of the way Excav large excavators, no employer who cares about their employees and in their right mind would put somebody and crutches out on and I know that's an exaggeration but I think we need to kind of look at. The common sense side of this um on top of that there's there are you know so we went through this we had a federal project was not a military base but it was being funded with federal monies and the client was requiring ah drug testing and that drug testing. 05:55.40 Heather Had it was all five drugs. It wasn't just like the drugs that are illegal in California it included pot or marijuana and and so you know people were complaining and saying you can't require me to take this test well because of the nature of the project. The company did have to do that because it was part of the contract. It was part of the requirement was a federal project. It was required so like if you are taking these drugs you have to understand it will limit the kind of work that you can do if you're fortunate to have a full time job and there's other aspects. That employer can put you on then great. But if you were hired. Specifically let's say for this job and then you find out you have to take a drug test and that drug test reveals that you are on a substance that is not allowed I mean you've put yourself in a position where now you cannot work and um. That's the practical side of things people need to consider these. 06:59.48 Andrew Kinkella Right? Um, yeah again I've just as we've been talking I've been thinking about this kind of stuff and I've just noticed so much of this over my career. You know in terms of um people I guess you know sort of self meicica in their own way and and I'll say this as we talk about. You know marijuana I understand if somebody takes a gummy in the afternoon before they go to bed or something I I would relate something like that vaguely equivalent to just oh you had a glass of wine with dinner. You know what I mean and that's so that's not not what we're we're talking about. We're we're talking about being serious about these things and and I just I worry. Again, especially for younger people that they don't take this stuff seriously right and on on top of everything else. We talked about the t h c content man the thc content of marijuana today. This is not your Grandma's marijuana you know what I mean like stuff from the 90 s. It's not the same. So. It's like very little amounts. Can you know, really affect you and I will say in my own experience. The worst times I ever had on any sort of drug. Whatever it may be the worst ones were from marijuana. Like be so marijuana is like this harsh mistress right? where it's seen as no big deal but it's it can be a very big deal right? It sort of runs the gamut. It's a bit unique in the drug world. So I just I hope that that people listening to this at very least take. 08:30.30 Andrew Kinkella Seriously like as we've been talking side effects. How long things last what that does to your body what you can and cannot do you know and again just be a professional again. Heather yeah, what's up. 08:41.32 Heather yeah yeah I was going to say um you know, just kind of rereading this question. Um, there's a focus on ah, what should field text or a crew chief do to address these types of um. You know, maybe the purposes behind people using this. Um 1 thing is let's get down to okay, why do people use drugs these it's recreationals for fun and they're saying that it's because they're in pain or because they truly are in pain. Or maybe they're very tired and they're trying to combat some issues with fatigue. So I think 1 thing that we need to understand is that any medication that you take is masking your body's ability to talk to you and to tell you. It's the issues that it's having it's too tired. It's sore um, and so when you take drugs it allows you to ignore your body's normal responses and so that is one danger for your health long term um also drugs. Then require many times they have side effects that then you have to combat with more drugs or other kinds of substances to to bring you back to normal or let's say you've been let's just even looking at alcohol like you're. 09:57.59 Andrew Kinkella Right. 10:10.20 Heather You drink at night because you're sore you just want to relax fall asleep quickly. But then you got the hangover right? And then you're tired the next day because you drank too much or you're dehydrated now. So you no matter how much you drink you're you're dehydrated. That's definitely going to affect you on that on the job. So. 10:23.48 Andrew Kinkella Right? right? But as in this stuff you know moderation in all things right? You could have a drink or 2 versus you know 7 10:30.85 Heather Right? right? No I'm talking like you're not going to have a hangover from a drink or 2 dick unless you've never unless you don't drink um or you have some kind of um, some reaction to wine or whatever. But so I think you know then here's the other thing is that why are we sore. 10:37.47 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah. 10:50.44 Heather Now we're sore because we're doing a lot of manual labor. But what are some things that we can do to prevent us from being more sore than we have to be stretching um taking care of your body making sure you're eating properly like a lot of times people that take drugs do not take care of their body in other ways and so they're. 11:04.80 Andrew Kinkella Depp. 11:10.18 Heather Trying to mask the repercussions of not taking care of their body and so you know I think you have to look at this in a holistic sense where we're taking care of ourselves and you know listen I get it because you're busy, busy busy and sometimes the last thing you do you. 11:13.63 Andrew Kinkella Right. 11:29.81 Heather You want to do or can do or or have the ability to do is to take care of your body. It takes a lot of work to do that. But as archeologists that we were athletes. We are athletes and you have to treat your body as an athlete would garbage in garbage out. 11:36.60 Andrew Kinkella Get. 11:46.37 Andrew Kinkella Yeah, I'm so glad you said that just because um I was like oh man I'm going to have to be the old man get off my lawn and say that same thing that you just did which is you know you hear this like oh I have fatigue Fatigue fatigue. It's like dude you need to sleep. You know what? I mean sleep. It's like you have to. 11:59.42 Heather Right. 12:01.27 archpodnet Um. 12:03.30 Andrew Kinkella Have to give yourself time to sleep and with that other stuff I was thinking stretching too. You have to do that stuff and I know it sounds like ah, what do you mean? I'm I'm 26 I don't need to do this. It's like yeah you do you'll only be better off if you can do some of these simple things and um I guess with that. Well um. 12:20.13 archpodnet M. 12:21.80 Andrew Kinkella Continue on this topic on the other side so we'll see you guys again in just a moment.