Your Work Site and Medical Marijuana

[Micheal Jack]

Nowadays, with 14 US states that have legalized medical marijuana, you can find perhaps hundreds of 1000s of employers, who wonder in regards to the ways to keep the job site drug free and meantime supply the adequate environment for workers, who're taken through marijuana treatment. The truth is, the general marijuana topic is a mess. The federal authorities don't want to go from their 'all marijuana is illegal' position and marijuana-legal states have unbelievably different approaches to the issue. Thus, there's never been a better time for reviewing drug policy of your company.

 

Here are some guidelines to the major white spots:

 

For enterprises that benefit the government, like people that have federal contracts, the directing document must be Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988, which bans the usage of marijuana in job sites that participate in federal contracts.

The DOT - Department of Transportation - as well bans the use of marijuana for employees that are in so-called 'safety-sensitive' positions, such as for example bus drivers, subway operators, truck drivers, armed transit security, ship captains, and pilots. This ban covers all states, involving the states that have legalized medical marijuana cannabis delivery. Thus, even though you have a marijuana card, but you have to fly a 757, you have to make sure that your medical marijuana's effect has passed, whenever you board your pilot seat.

Some attorneys advise to treat marijuana treatment as though it was a usage of any prescription drug, and the worker could do it legally and safely. They claim that such attitude can save employers both money and amount of time in a situation that leads medical marijuana to the point to getting more and more accepted by society and becoming legalized in greater amount of states during another few years.

Different States - Different Regulations

First of all, in the legalized states, every patient that has a marijuana card is protected from detainment as long as they've dealt with all the needed documentation and has got the evidence of a doctor's approval due to their marijuana treatment. But that is just the beginning.

If you live and work in Oregon or California and you are tested positive for marijuana at your workplace, you will get fired. You may also be fired if you are using medical marijuana with the required approval, and a prescription from your own physician, who goes through your marijuana treatment.

Just recall a precedent back in 2008 - the Ross vs. RagingWire case. In the past, the Supreme Court of California settled that the employer drug test is legal and that it isn't discriminative to fire a worker for marijuana use, even though it's not found in the work site. Oregon had the Emerald Steel Fabricators, Inc. vs. Bureau of Labor and Industries, the state's Supreme Court settled that Oregon employers have to not support the workers' medical marijuana use, since the federal law takes priority over state laws.

Patients that undergo marijuana treatment in Vermont, is going to be almost certainly arrested if found using or beneath the influence of medical marijuana in their workplaces. Exactly the same is true about New Mexico patients.

In certain states, such as for example Rhode Island and Maine, you won't be discriminated or fined for your employment of medical marijuana, if you have a medical marijuana card.