srh88 made a good point about if more people spoke up about it that attitudes would change. Most people would fear getting fired for being open about their use to their employer especially that most good jobs drug test, that's the catch that keeps most people quiet, the #1 fear is getting arrested followed by getting fired.
I remember once when working for an HVAC install/repair company, it had about 25 employees. The owner knew that the majority of his technicians and installer crew were 420 users and one morning I remember him gathering everyone in the warehouse saying he was looking around to get a health insurance carrier so that all of his employees could have the option of getting health insurance with affordable rates and that one health insurance carrier he was about to go with he had to back out of at the last minute because he was told that he would have to start drug testing his employees as it was their policy and he said ... "If I started drug testing my employees I wouldn't have any because I know almost all of you would fail piss tests", he eventually found a health insurance carrier that didn't drug test about 2 weeks after that.
You don't find many employers like that these days, especially in the trade skills such as plumbing,hvac,electrical,welding, ect. Even most warehouse and factory jobs drug test these days. Most of the bottom rung fast food and retail type jobs don't drug test but they pay so low in the minimum wage range. Even most fast food and retail employees keep their 420 use secret from their employer.
I've been wondering how employers are going to react when herb starts getting passed for legalized recreational use at the state level , and I think between 3 states going for it at one time, the chances are good that at least one will succeed. When that does, other states all over will start pushing for and getting it passed for recreational use but I'm also thinking that employers will start increasing their ZERO TOLERANCE stance and drug testing will become more stringent as a result of this.
I don't see Federal legalization coming any time soon, I still think that's many years away but I do see state legalization for recreational use about to start happening and spreading all over. Most employers I think will take the stance of seeing Federal laws as the ultimate law and the "establishment" will discourage herb users from using legalized recreational herb by cracking down harder in the business world by more stringent drug testing. Arizona had the right thought in mind with their MMJ bill by having employment protection in place for MMJ users.
That will be hard if not impossible to get employment protection written into a state legalization effort for recreational marijuana use bill because of Federal law, but I think that's what is needed. I just have a gut feeling that marijuana is about to become legal starting with the states but that a backlash will come against that with harder and more discrimination against us marijuana users in the workforce world as more jobs will start drug testing that previously did not as well as more private health insurers and maybe even auto insurance carriers will start drug testing.
This may seem paranoid , but it is a valid point. Marijuana has an unbelievable stigma attached to it because of 75 years of drug prohibition. I think it's very possible that might be a way for the establishment to deter and even punish marijuana users by thinking .."well,it's legal now but if you want a job, you better piss clean", and maybe even as far as the auto insurance companies start up piss tests just to be able to have auto insurance.
The Federal level is where the laws need to be changed but I don't believe that will happen until quite a few years away because so many politicians are bought off by the pharmaceutical industries to keep marijuana scheduled as a class 1 substance with no positive use.
I welcome and hope legalization happens, even at the state levels and I think its going to happen that way, but get ready for some potentially aggressive Orwellian bullshit like constant drug testing.