Here is a situation where conflicting interests have yet to be resolved. Certain states have granted rights for its citizens to use medical marijuana. These same states still allow employers to invoke a zero tolerance drug policy. So there you have it, the employee who uses marijuana for medical reasons and the employer who will not allow employees to use marijuana, permit or not, in the workforce.
Many states are kicking this one around. I have reported on this before, and I am sure I will be writing articles about it in the future. One such article was entitled, “Oregon Protesters Rally Against Drug Test Background Checks.”
In a recent case, a Colorado man was fired for smoking medical marijuana. The man had worked for Miller/Coors for about seven years. According tot he article on the KUSA-TV 9News.com website, the former employee may have a tough time securing unemployment benefits. The article states the following in terms of benefits allowable for discharged employees who had been ingesting medical marijuana….
“Amendment 20 (the amendment to the Colorado Constitution that allows the use of medical marijuana on the state level) does include language that offers at least some insight here. It reads, in part, “Nothing in this section shall require any employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any work place.”
That section, based upon the ICAO opinion, has now been interpreted by some to indicate that employees will be at risk for termination should they test positive for marijuana while in the workplace, even when it’s not even presumed that they’re under the influence of marijuana at the time of the test.”
There are about 125 thousand people on the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry. There are dozens of cases where employees have been dismissed for either using medical marijuana on the job or showing up to work with medical marijuana in their systems. It will be real interesting to see how this plays out.
