The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee County Post • October 27, 2017 Amazon is hiring in Kenosha. You may have heard that. They are buying bill- boards saying it. They're running ads on TV. They're running ads on the radio. It's even plastered on the side of a lot of their trucks. Amazon isn't just hiring — they're begging. Across the street in Kenosha, Uline is hir- ing too. The big package material firm is also running ads all over the place. The rea- son they are able to run these ads is that Amazon and Uline are huge employers with enormous budgets. But they are not the only ones hiring and the hiring isn't limited to Kenosha. Everybody in Wisconsin is hiring. Everybody. Go to a CVS or a Walgreens and there's a sign on the door saying something like: "Help Wanted. All Shifts." Jimmy John's? They're hiring too. So is just about every construction company, landscaper, dollar store, clinic and trucker. If you're in busi- ness in Wisconsin, chances are you are looking for employees. This will all get worse (or better, depending on your per- spective) if the Foxconn deal is finalized. The Wisconsin Walker economy is booming and there are nowhere near enough quali- fied job applicants for the positions avail- able. But this column isn't about the economy. It's about marijuana. The majority of the employers who can't fill their positions are firms that drug test their applicants. Amazon makes you take a drug test and won't touch you if you flunk. The same is true of most of the other large firms involved in fields like manufactur- ing, packaging, delivery, construction or anything else where the employer has worker's comp or liability concerns. The No. 1 reason applicants are rejected at these firms is inability to pass the drug test. It's also the reason many don't bother to apply. They know they'll flunk. Barack Obama, Colorado, Nevada and every other personality, state or media out- let that has glorified pot and minimized its dangerousness are helping create a nation of underachieving addicts who are essen- tially unemployable in half the jobs in this country. Pot may be decriminalized every- where and downright legal in a lot of states but it is not tolerated in most large American corporations. Worker's compensation rates have gone through the roof. Civil lawsuit liability has driven insurance rates up. Companies don't want stoners working for them. Inside Amazon, packers are working at lightning speed. Boxes and items are flying up and down chutes. Packages are loaded onto trucks as fast as Giannis runs the Bradley Center court. Delivery drivers are navigat- ing clogged freeways and city streets. There is no place in this environment for a slug- gish laggard still dopey from the joint he smoked 11 hours ago. Besides, if something goes wrong, the company doesn't want to explain why it had a drugged-out forklift operator. Wisconsin is rightly focused on work- force development and encouraging young people to pursue careers in fields that don't require college degrees. This is where the vast majority of vacant jobs are and the pay for these positions is rising. But all the skills in the world are worthless if you aren't going to be hired because you are on drugs. Pot is not harmless. It is addictive. As someone who came of age in the era where marijuana was as common as Pepsi, I've seen it my entire life. Some casual users smoked in their late teens and early 20s, grew up and moved on. But those that got hooked are underachieving slackers who lack ambition and never lived up to their potential. If it were harmless, the people who'd love to make $47,000 a year at Uline would quit smoking, apply for the job and make something of their life. It's not easy. And many don't do it because they don't want to quit. They are ADDICTED. In the meantime, the heroin problem just gets worse. Otherwise nice and moral peo- ple are dropping dead all over the place. I can't imagine there is anyone reading this column that doesn't know at least one hero- in addict. The story untold by the media is that an enormous number of these opioid addicts got started by smoking pot. Proper attention has been given to how narcotic painkillers got people addicted to opioids in the first place. But many heroin users never took, or abused, these pills. They got hooked on pot and started chasing stronger buzzes. Marijuana is very differ- ent from cocaine or methamphetamine. Pot gives you a mellow high, not a manic zap. It is similar to the high given by opioids like heroin. These drugs are attractive to qui- eter, pleasant people who are trying to take an edge off life and get an intoxicating high. Pot doesn't always lead to heroin but it happens a lot. Shame on Barack Obama for abusing the power of his presidency to discount the danger of pot. The lucky potheads find jobs at compa- nies that don't drug test. The ones in the middle remain underemployed their whole lives. The worst cases turn to heroin and many die. The people telling us for the last 50 years that marijuana is essentially harmless have done more damage than the worst drug pusher or smuggler. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE Pot addiction drives Wisconsin jobs gap OPINION Last week's question What are the Green Bay Packers' chances for making the playoffs after Aaron Rodgers broke his right collar bone? What changes do they need to make to compensate for his loss? Or, Colin Kaepernick is suing the NFL for collusion in pre- venting him from being hired. Is he justified or just whining? I think collusion or blacklisting would be almost impossible to prove. While it is suspicious that a quarter- back who led a team to the Super Bowl hasn't been picked up, it may just be team owners' reluctance to take on a controversial player and incur the wrath of Washington. I personally wish politicians would keep their noses out of football and do what we've elected them to do. I also hope some team will pick up Milwaukee native Colin Kaepernick for the 2018 season. Yes, he dared to protest racial injustice. Is that really unpatriotic? He did it not by turning his back or raising his middle finger during the national anthem, but by taking a knee — a prayerful stance that in football parlance means "it stops here." The game or the play stops here. Racial injustice stops here. It stops here with me. Is there a team owner courageous enough to give Mr. Kaepernick a con- tract or does Washington control the NFL by Twitter fits? — Sandy Sue Szanderek Bay View This week's question What do you think of acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt, who has been on the job almost two months? Do you think he should be appointed sheriff? What qualities are important for the job? Or, in the ongoing budget war between County Executive Chris Abele and County Board Chairman Theo Lipscomb, who do you side with? (Choose one.) Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Phone numbers will not be published. Anonymous responses are no longer accepted by the publication. Call 744- 6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@conleynet.com. Question of the week Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dan Muckelbauer, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by email to: dmuck@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words. Letters policy

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