We see a bug in the system. They see a feature. Terrorizing the populace makes us compliant, which they mistake for respect because they are so desperate for it.
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How sensitive is the test for bear mace exposure?
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I belonged to a group of young people in Wichita who ahem had a habit of smoking marijuana. Honestly, this was regular-grade stuff, but WPD was all over us like they were hunting Osama Bin-Laden, spying on us at our regular hangout with the ineptitude of Syd and Marty Kroft villains; hiding in trees, poking their heads over walls, and trying to get undercover officers to get chummy with us when they couldnât stand out any less if they had a horn in the middle of their forehead.
Sure, there are some things I miss about Kansas, but I donât think thereâs anything short of the Kochs and the Phelps and the abortion protesters being suddenly swallowed up by the gaping maw of Hell itself that would make me think going back would be a grand idea.
ETA: They used to bemoan the âbrain drainâ when I was in high school, when Kansasâ brightest were leaving the state in large numbers. Something tells me this is still happening.
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Iâm afraid Kansas is lost.
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OMG, this is so apt, 'cuz Iâm veritably from the Hicks clan.
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In that case, watch out for elevators.
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Nothing to add yet, except that I have a stack of these as postcardsâŚ
And send one to my dear friend in Lawrence every time a news story out of Kansas makes us rend our garments and gnash our teeth.
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Iâm not from Kansas, but Iâve experienced a brain drain from living in Indiana. When the news media reports on brain drains, they make it sound like itâs a choice. Like we left our home states because weâd rather live in Brooklyn or Portland and be hipsters and creative types. It isnât like that at all. I left Indiana because there was fuck all there except meth and poverty, and no jobs of any kind to speak of. The fact that I left Indiana for Ohio speaks volumes.
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I know a young woman in Indiana who recently went from local politics (elected) to accepting a state position appointed by the governor. Her job is to figure out how to attract workers to the state, because theyâve finally admitted to themselves that the problem isnât actually jobs â which they have more than enough of â itâs that they donât have enough people who can pass a drug screening, show up on time every day, and follow basic instructions.
Guess dumbing down the public school system and not providing functional medical care for your citizens has some drawbacksâŚwho would have thunk it? 
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If you dig deep enough any hole becomes a tunnel, right?
A molten rock-filled tunnel where everyone dies because some dumbfucks are too idiotic to stop digging.
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<pedant> Perhaps itâs just me, but I usually define a tunnel as having at a component thatâs noticeably closer to perpendicular to the local direction of gravity than parallel, and must eventually exit the other side. Otherwise, itâs still seems more of a holeâŚ</pedant>
<pedant+> Granted, that means that the definition gets weird if you dug through the exact center of the mass. But since (assuming a planet like the Earth) youâd have to already be into molten rock, and would have to dig through an infinitelyatomically small point for that to matterâŚ</pedant+>
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Ridiculous! Surely if you dig deep enough youâll break through to Inner Earth?
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A pedant walks into a bar.
Everyone groans and tries to not make eye contact.
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Rinse and repeat for Iowa when I was at ISU. Much like @LearnedCowardâs Indiana âbrain drain,â there just werenât a lot of jobs in Iowa (mostly because there just arenât a lot of people in Iowa).
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I always wonder if some of the people who canât pass the drug screening would actually be folks who could show up on time, follow basic instructions and do a good job, but they wonât get a chance.
Being sober at work is non-negotiable, in my mind, but getting high after work doesnât necessarily make someone a bad worker. Just like getting drunk after work doesnât necessarily make someone a bad worker.
I had a boss who wanted to fire some workers who were not doing a good job, and talked about drug screening everyone so he had an excuse. I didnât have the guts to tell him heâd lose some of his best workers if he did that. It didnât end up happening but I think it was because of the cost.
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I know someone who seriously considered a way to make money selling clean urine samples. He got the idea after a classmate applied for a job at the local lumber mill, got as far as taking the test, then called a few days later to ask if heâd passed 
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Yes. Good point.
They would probably lose a lot of good workers if they screened for drugs. I doubt theyâd keep the bad ones though, theyâd probably lose them too. Losses all around, and no benefits to drug screening whatsoever.
I would also point out that when I said people were on drugs, I didnât mean they were recreational pot smokers who have experimented with hallucinogens. Theyâre into harder stuff, like meth and heroin and illicit pharmaceuticals (where it all starts), and itâs more self medicating than recreation regardless. Two completely different issues. If someone wants to do drugs recreationally, thatâs fine with me. If they are self medicating, or addicted, we (as a society) should address the underlying issues, and address them humanely, instead of criminalizing the symptoms.
Also, when I left Indiana, there were reportedly one million adults in Indiana who were functionally illiterate. The total population of Indiana at the time was maybe five million. Take that for what itâs worth.
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Thatâs flabbergasting. And so very sad.
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