The Cannabis Closet: Anxiety Attacks

A reader writes:

I know you closed this thread awhile ago but after reading your recent post I feel a need to share this with you.

My company is about to be bought out by another company. My current company did not drug test upon entrance. The new company is not only going to drug test but may do it without notice. In other words, once the sale is complete employees may simply receive an email or a phone call informing them they have 4 hours to go and take a piss test.

I smoke at night to help me sleep and shut down my brain. I get up 3 hours before work because I am prone to awaking with a full blown anxiety attack with all the trimmings and a puff or two instantly calms the sweats, nausea and shakes. By the time I eat breakfast, shower, etc, my head is clear and I can start the day. If I were to take a Zanax or Clonopin I would never make it to work (the stronger the attack, the harder and longer the meds hit me). Yesterday I spent most of the morning fighting the anxiety just to function.

The hypocrisy here is that I was just at a national company meeting where I saw people pounding away the booze until 1 and 2 in the morning and then walking into an 8 am meeting hung-over. But that was OK. I have had an assistant who was such a heavy evening drinker that he was still sweating alcohol out of his system the next day. But that was OK. However if I take a toke at night or at a party or with my boyfriend to celebrate our anniversary I can lose my job.

This is insane. I would like to know how the lawyers and female professionals and doctors and all the other "high-end" professionals you have featured get around their companies drug policies, because for the rest of us - lower-end professionals - it means giving up the one "vice" we enjoy and praying they don't pick my name for a month until I can work it our of my system, and even then...