cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Law Challenges Workplace Rules





Medical Marijuana Law Challenges Workplace Rules
Posted by CN Staff on February 22, 2004 at 20:32:01 PT
By Jerry Gjesvold, For The Register-Guard
Source: Register-Guard
Since Oregon's medical marijuana initiative became law in 1998, more than 6,000 individuals have received medical marijuana cards. Given that many Oregon companies now test for drugs, it was inevitable that one or more cardholders would test positive, get fired and sue.Now it's happened. Two cases are working their way through the courts, and the outcomes could affect employers throughout the state.
When the initiative passed, workers using marijuana under a doctor's recommendation were given basically the same rights as anyone undergoing treatment for illness or injury. In such cases, employers are generally expected to make a good-faith effort to accommodate the worker's needs - except when doing so would place hardship on the company or put safety at risk. Such an accommodation might involve reassignment or a leave of absence. The length of either would depend on the nature of the condition.This would seem simple enough, but medical marijuana isn't used the same way as other drugs prescribed by doctors. The dosage is self-administered, and the 1998 law allows for the cultivation of up to seven plants at any one time.Also, the active ingredient in marijuana accumulates over time in the fatty tissues of the body - most importantly, the brain. This is unlike alcohol, which is water-soluble and fully metabolized at a well-understood rate.Additionally, studies show that the impairment that marijuana causes can be deceptive. Further, we don't know how long it takes to bring the effects to an acceptable level - especially for a job involving safety or accuracy - and how much this "recovery" time varies from person to person.All a positive drug test tells us is that someone has used marijuana within the last several days. But are they fit for duty? Who knows?What all this means is that employers are faced with a real dilemma. They are expected to work with their ill or injured employees. Yet at the same time, they have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace - but now, with the presence of a drug that's not well understood. The two court cases may clarify the balance of these responsibilities.Until that happens - and it could be any day - the following suggestions may be helpful. They're from Corbett Gordon, managing partner of the Portland office of Fisher and Phillips LLP, one of the country's largest law firms representing employers in labor law. (For a detailed discussion, see the Dec. 2003 issue of Oregon Civil Rights Newsletter.)First, employers can, and should, require workers to notify their supervisor immediately that they have a medical marijuana card and are using the drug.Second, companies should be clear how they define the word "impaired," and provide tests for fitness for duty.Gordon writes: "Close observation of all employees performing safety and accuracy-sensitive work remains the best practice."And third, in cases where the company is covered by federal regulations - where there is zero tolerance for marijuana - employees can be offered a transfer into a nonregulated position while they use marijuana to treat their illness or injury. A leave of absence might also be granted.As in all worker's rights issues, employers will need to stay on top of current case law. Still, companies have been dealing for years with employees' medical conditions. Policies balancing the needs of both employer and employee have been worked out by individuals and in collective bargaining. Pending court cases will tell us more about how medical marijuana impacts that balance.The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer. As Serenity Lane's statewide coordinator of employer services, Jerry Gjesvold helps companies across Oregon create and manage their drug-free workplace policies and programs. More information is available on the Serenity Lane Web site at: http://www.serenitylane.org/Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)Author: Jerry Gjesvold, For The Register-GuardPublished: February 22, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Register-GuardContact: rgletters guardnet.comWebsite: http://www.registerguard.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:SOMM-NEThttp://www.somm-net.org/Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmMedical Marijuana Stories Shared http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17627.shtmlLet Fed Quit Fighting Oregon Over Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17617.shtmlCourt's Marijuana Ruling May Impact Oregonhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17582.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by ekim on February 23, 2004 at 11:16:02 PT
Bill Mahar on Hardball tonight
Ralph Nader was on C-Span will show again tonite at 5-8 pm. /Mr Nader says there is room for hearing all points of view, but the people do not get to hear all sides.He said last time he ran he got only 3 and one half minutes on National TV.from Sept-Nov. Ralph says that his ideas are free and anyone can use them. He says that Texas state GOP party has disagreements with the White House on Nafta and Patroit Act. That Corp. have too much power and those that want freedom to choose should feel the same about all those who want to run for office. He also questioned how for so long the Dems have lost so many races and said more attention needs to be payed to the peoples problems. He asked the Press to ask more questions and get more involved in learning the issues, he offered a 35 page report he gave the Gop and Dem party -- but got no reply. 
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on February 23, 2004 at 09:59:09 PT
afterburner
I didn't post the Canadian Press article that was in the Toronto Star but I posted this article from the Globe and Mail. Thanks!http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18386.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on February 23, 2004 at 09:05:00 PT
Thanks afterburner
I found this link to the stats from the link you posted.http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040223/d040223a.htm
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on February 23, 2004 at 08:57:04 PT
OverwhelmSam and Virgil
I haven't heard anymore about Don Nord's case but I will keep looking. I don't know anything about Governor Perry that you posted a question on another thread. I don't even know who he is but I'm really not up on politics.Virgil, I'm still impaired by this flu or whatever I have. Sometimes I think the news on TV is all hype. Nothing really important. We have Avian Flu of different types popping up all over the world. It has possibly jumped to cattle in one country and cats. Living in the country and dealing with diseases that can take an animal down and or kill them keeps me in tune with viruses etc. I've seen bizarre disease with animals and know that some of the diseases jump to people. We are a time bomb waiting to explode. As far as Mad Cow goes the cow that started this MCD issue here in the states wasn't a downer cow and yet that is the cows our government wants to test. The man shot the cow because he was afraid he would trample other cows so he was shot and dead and then they tested him. I believe the earth will soon try to cleanse itself and many people could die. I wouldn't want to live in a big city if this happens. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think I am.
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Comment #11 posted by afterburner on February 23, 2004 at 08:42:11 PT:
War on Some Plants - Canada
Majority of drug busts target small fry
Feb. 23, 2004. 10:26 AMPolice forces say the drug-related crime rate was at a 20-year high in 2002 and most of the incidents involved pot, Statistics Canada reports. Seventy five per cent of drug-related incidents in 2002 involved marijuana, and about 72 per cent of those were possession offences, the agency reported today.  [Full Story] http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1077535858518&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
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Comment #10 posted by kaptinemo on February 23, 2004 at 06:58:35 PT:
For JSM and others concerned about climate
This new movie is due out in May...and it directly illustrates what the world might be in for if the global warming we are experiencing continues to increase. You'll need Apple's QuickTime to view the trailer:The Day After Tomorrow:
http://www.thedayaftertomorrowmovie.com/This latest study *is only the most recent of several*; back in the 1970's the Rand Corporation was commissioned by the CIA to do similar studies, and found the same possibilities and made the same warnings. The results were later published in 1977 as "The Weather Conspiracy" by The Impact Team. The book is out of print, but could be found by a used book seller if you are interested.It's already been pointed out that by massive re-planting of arable land with oxygen enhancing, See-Oh-Two absorbing plant life, the process could be reversed, possibly in time to forestall the worst of what may be coming. The fastest growing, CO2 fixing plant on the planet right now is - what else? - hemp. And it's much falsely-maligned cousin.So many simple solutions...to unnecessarily difficult problems...which wouldn't be problems if it weren't for plain ol' human cussedness in trying to control your neighbor's behavior to be more aligned with your own personal or group's neuroses. Which, in the final analysis, is just what the War on Some Drugs has always been about.
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Comment #9 posted by BGreen on February 23, 2004 at 06:24:56 PT
JSM, I Believe Hemp Is Our Earths' Saviour
When I read yesterday about the global warming story you referred to I immediately thought how hemp could help not only to scrub the excess CO2 out of the air, but it will also minimize the soil erosion in the midwest states due to the strong winds, a scenario presented in the pentagon's report.The prohibition of hemp has thrown our ecosystem out of whack. It's now or never if we're going to save the planet.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #8 posted by cloud7 on February 23, 2004 at 05:54:59 PT
NY Times article on Kerry/Bush
Just one quote relevant to here, but a good article."Maybe that other "hippielike" activity, drug use, will be the next up to bat. But in Douglas Brinkley's best-selling chronicle of Mr. Kerry's Vietnam years, "Tour of Duty," this candidate not only admits to smoking pot upon return from the war but also adds that he "certainly enjoyed it." I have yet to hear anyone so much as remark upon this revelation."http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/arts/22RICH.html?ex=1078491825&ei=1&en=dc970b2342cdcc40
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Comment #7 posted by JSM on February 23, 2004 at 04:59:19 PT
Way off topic, but
http://www.commondreams.org/This is one scary article not directly related to the cannabis issue, but it illustrates the mess we are facing and it does reflect on how importance of growing and using hemp.
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Comment #6 posted by OverwhelmSam on February 23, 2004 at 04:55:32 PT:
The Key Point Here
The key point in this issue seems to be that these medical marijuana patients were performing adequately up to the point where marijuana was detected in their urine. The only evident "impairment" was the drug test itself.It appears that the medication wasn't responsible for impaired performance at all. FoM, have you heard anything about Dan Nord's case? It was due to be ruled on in federal court, and then nothing.
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Comment #5 posted by john wayne on February 23, 2004 at 02:37:54 PT
well, well, well
I was wondering when this particular issue would hit the mainstream news outlets. Because the multi-billion $$$ drug-testing industry takes it on the chin when medical cannabis becomes the law of the land, much to the piss-test salesmen's chagrin.  At least half the energy behind the resistance to medical cannabis comes from that quadrant, in my humble estimation. Piss testers, you've been outed. You'd rather see people die in agony than give up your fraudulent "industry".Further along down the article, I must ask what the h-e-double-toothpicks is this sentence doing in this article?>Also, the active ingredient in marijuana accumulates over time in the fatty tissues of the body - most importantly, the brain. This is unlike alcohol, which is water-soluble and fully metabolized at a well-understood rate.Alcohol isn't prescribed as a medicine, and also isn't tested for in most piss tests. Oh man, the piss testers are SCARED!
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Comment #4 posted by Petard on February 23, 2004 at 00:09:53 PT
Self dosing/titration not a cannabis only
Most of the pills I've ever been prescribed for pain, or muscle relaxers, advise, "take every x hours, AS NEEDED". That's about the same thing as self dosage with cannabis, take "AS NEEDED", only no pharmacist's/Dr.'s notation comes on a street level baggy. Again, the media is "taking liberties" with their use of language, or at least trying to perpetuate the literal taking of liberties. Things like "treatment for marijuana ingestion" and now "self dosage" as if other medications are not self dosed. And also, the article states cannabis stays in the tissues for "several days", several generally means a handful, like more than 3 but less than a dozen. I've read where the metabolites can be detected in some people up to 90 days after cessation, that's more than "several days", that's bordering on several MONTHS. And that's just for pee tests, how long for hair tests? Probably years in some cases. The real test for cannabis intoxication, and therefore any significant "impairment", would rely on blood serum levels of actual THC (and any other psychoactive components of various strains), not carboxylic acid byproducts. There may be such a test, but I'm not aware of any widespread availability of it, much less an inexpensive one. Metabolites means the THC has been used (metabolized) by the body and is no longer in the form it once was, it's no longer THC.Stress is a larger impairment than THC usually. Perhaps all workers should be given bill paying days off as a leave of absence. Oh yeah, oops, that would mean 6 months off since we have to work that long just to pay our Fed Taxes so the Fed can continue to fund the War on American Citizens called the WO(some)D.
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Comment #3 posted by Virgil on February 22, 2004 at 23:50:50 PT
FoM
That sick stuff is some serious because you really wonder if this is the one that will get you with all the flus and viruses. The prohibitionist legislate unenhancement for all sick. Now I ask you, wouldn't Free Cannabis be beneficial when you are pondering if you will live or die?I can tell you that if I were representing someone that only faced a fine I would introduce the Innocent by Insignificant defense. Actually, I would want to play a recording of my best delivery on the Innocent by Insignificant done at my home studio. I think I would also have to throw a Innocent by Innocence defense to clainimg no harm to anyone and benefit of myself defense.There must be misery and there can be no sickness while enhanced. How much misery is Congress going to legislate as it wars on American citizens? Congress is treason to reason. Congress is treason to humanity. Congress is treason to peace. Congress is treason to health. Congress is treason to freedom. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 22, 2004 at 22:52:46 PT
I'm Impaired Right Now
What should they do about someone like me right now who has the flu or a chest cold and they come to work and aren't at their peak? I said that because even lack of sleep for whatever reason, like being up all night with a sick child, could cause someone to make a critical mistake at work. When will this narrow minding thinking stop and when will they admit that no one wants to pay if an accident occurs and they just keep looking for ways out of it.
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on February 22, 2004 at 22:45:16 PT
Outsource lawyers
Let us here it for outsourcing of lawyers. Why do lawyers need to sit in court only to charge a hu dred dollars an hour to wait. How is this country going to support legions of lawyers and a broken medical system too. The people in Warshington want more and insist on military spending in rival to the whole world combined. Congress should adopt remote voting and triple representation. The courts need remote testimony and open for Indian lawyers that would generate a legal document for $10. Paperwork for a pot case $50. Outsourse the lawyers. That will happen when we outsource prisons to Jamaica and prisoners get their boredom numbed a little with Miracleplant.
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