Posted on 01/24/2008 10:32:38 AM PST by SmithL
San Francisco (AP) -- The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers in the state can fire workers found to have used medical marijuana legally recommended by doctors.
The company, Ragingwire Inc., successfully argued it rightfully fired Gary Ross after he flunked a company-ordered drug test because all marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.
Ross held a medical marijuana card authorizing him to legally use marijuana to treat a back injury he sustained while serving in the U.S. Air Force.
A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision declared that state medicinal marijuana laws don't protect users from prosecution. The Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies have been actively shutting down major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state over the last two years and charging their operators with serious felony distributions charges.
The company said it fired Ross because it feared it could be the target of a federal raid, among other reasons.
Ragingwire, a small telecommunications company in Sacramento, has been joined in the Supreme Court by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the Western Electrical Contractors Association Inc., who said companies could lose federal contracts and grants if they allowed employees to smoke pot.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The SCOCA got this one right.
"Duuuude, that's like... Harsh man."
Who wants an employee spaced out on pot? Seems like firing is just common sense.
“the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority”
DO NOT OPERATE HEAVY MACHINERY...
“Warning: Use of this medication make make bands seem groovier than they are.”
Thank God. Now get him some pills stat! Everyone knows they don’t have side effects. The pushers in the commercials told me they’re safe.
Who said he was high at work? Source?
Where I work (electronics retail) mandatory pot usage would probably improve performance, as in there would be fewer customer homicidies and higher retention rate.
It does say he flunked a company ordered drug test. In my experience, those are given randomly during the work day.
The article implies he was bringing the pot to work. Why else would the company claim it was the potential target of a federal raid?
Good decision
In my youth I learned that Uriah Heep sounded completely different sitting in a beanbag with headphones on than they did without a little “help”. After listening for five minutes one day I couldn’t believe I thought that their stuff was great the night before...
You can test positive for MJ months after using it with a hair sample test or weeks after using it with a urine test.
One can only assume this would be applied to all legally prescribed drugs. And won’t the people be surprised when that happens?
So then... Legislating from the bench is OK when it goes the way you want?
Nice try. If he had pot at work, they would have used that as an argument and mentioned it in the article.
Damned right they did! At least the alcholics on the job are still protected cuz "it's a disease".
Damned potheads! Now, what'd I do with my brewski?
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