Nowadays, with 14 US states that have legalized medical marijuana, there are perhaps countless tens of thousands of employers, who wonder about the ways to help keep the work site drug free and meantime provide the adequate environment for workers, who are taken through marijuana treatment. In reality, the overall marijuana topic is just 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 has never been a much better time for reviewing drug policy of one's company.
Here are some guidelines to the major white spots:
For enterprises that work for the government, like individuals with federal contracts, the directing document ought to be cannabis topicals Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988, which bans the using marijuana in job sites that participate in federal contracts.
The DOT - Department of Transportation - as well bans the use of marijuana for employees which can be 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, relating to the states that have legalized medical marijuana. Thus, even though you have a marijuana card, but you have to fly a 757, you have to ensure that your medical marijuana's effect has passed, when you board your pilot seat.
Some attorneys advise to take care of marijuana treatment like it absolutely was a utilization of every other prescription drug, and the worker could take action legally and safely. They declare that such attitude can save employers both money and amount of time in a scenario that leads medical marijuana to the point of getting more and more accepted by society and becoming legalized in greater number of states during the next few years.
Different States - Different Regulations
To begin with, in the legalized states, every patient that's a marijuana card is protected from detainment so long as they have dealt with all the needed documentation and has the evidence of a doctor's approval for his or her marijuana treatment. But this really is just the beginning.
If you reside and work in Oregon or California and you are tested positive for marijuana at your workplace, you can get fired. You can also be fired if you use medical marijuana with the mandatory approval, and a prescription from your own physician, who takes you through your marijuana treatment.
Just recall a precedent back in 2008 - the Ross vs. RagingWire case. Back then, the Supreme Court of California settled that the employer drug test is legal and so it isn't discriminative to fire a worker for marijuana use, even when it's not utilized in the job site. Oregon had the Emerald Steel Fabricators, Inc. vs. Bureau of Labor and Industries, the state's Supreme Court settled that Oregon employers have not to 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. 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 the employment of medical marijuana, when you yourself have a medical marijuana card.