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Ask HN: Does Amazon want a non-marijuana state for HQ2?

5 points by SQL2219 ↗ HN
Just wondering on what people think about this topic. I've seen studies that say pot lowers IQ, especially in kids. I've seen others that show no harm to IQ. Are employers, in general, in favor of pot use among employees? Are employers seeing any negative impact on productivity in liberal pot states?

8 comments

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chris11
I don't think they would care that much. I think they could just drug test employees if they were concerned about pot. And I haven't heard of any major non-DOD companies on the west-coast drug testing.
[dead] fasdfdsafas
You don't need legal weed to get baked every day.
PaulHoule
I think it could be a problem if you go to work stoned.
QuinnyPig
I’m fairly certain that among all the factors that Amazon is considering, “legal status of marijuana” ranks somewhere around “visual appeal of the state flag.”

Amazon deals in government contracts, and weed is still federally prohibited. They’re looking for tax and new hire benefits.

coralreef
Why would they care? If you are an unproductive, substance dependent addict, you'll probably be fired or not hired.

It would be a pretty useless metric to judge a population on, considering alcohol is legal and far worse. Or prescription opioids.

oblib
"I've seen studies that say pot lowers IQ, especially in kids"

There are so many variables that could be associated with IQ it's really easy to assume that conclusion for any of them, especially if that was the intent of the study. There is a financial incentive for some to fund and promote such conclusions.

Because of that we've endured over a century of "Refer Madness" and are just now beginning to look at this issue in a less biased way.

Newer studies worth noting:

http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/2/e012989

https://www.inc.com/cynthia-than/the-surprising-way-to-be-be...

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fred_is_fred
One thing that you need to get past really is that pot being illegal doesn't really seem to effect usage that much. It's not like 30% of the population was waiting for it to be legal to smoke it. If it worked any other way nobody would have had alcohol during Prohibition.