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Pompo

Bosses may fire workers for using medical pot off duty, California's high court says
1/25/08|Los Angeles Times| by Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

California employers may fire workers for using medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation while off duty even if the drug does not impair an employee's performance, the California Supreme Court ruled 5 to 2 today.

The state high court's ruling weakened an already beleaguered 1996 law that prohibits the state from criminalizing the medical use of marijuana. The court said the Compassionate Use Act, passed by voters, imposed no requirements on employers.

"The Compassionate Use Act does not eliminate marijuana's potential for abuse or the employer's legitimate interest in whether an employee uses the drug," Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar wrote for the majority.

Justice Joyce L. Kennard called the decision "conspicuously lacking in compassion."

"The majority's holding disrespects the will of California's voters who, when they enacted the Compassionate Use Act, surely never intended that persons who availed themselves of its provisions would thereby disqualify themselves from employment," wrote Kennard, who was joined in her dissent by Justice Carlos R. Moreno.

The court majority upheld the firing of Gary Ross, an Air Force veteran whose doctor recommended he use marijuana for chronic back pain and whose disability qualified him for government benefits.

Ross, 46, was hired by Raging Wire Telecommunications Inc. in 2001 as an administrator. Before taking a required drug test, Ross provided a copy of his physician's recommendation for marijuana. The company fired him a week after he started the job because of his marijuana use.

Ross sued the company on the grounds that it failed to accommodate his disability as required under a state anti-discrimination law. He also alleged that the employer violated his rights as a matter of public policy. A trial court and an appeals court ruled for the employer.

Stewart Katz, Ross'lawyer, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the majority's ruling "because of what the political realities are." He said the state Legislature could overturn the ruling by amending the marijuana law to prohibit employment discrimination.

Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, said the court majority based its holding on "an absurdly narrow reading of the law."

"The court is claiming that California voters intended to permit medical use of marijuana, but only if you're willing to be unemployed and on welfare," Mirken said. "That is ridiculous on its face, as well as cruel."

 

Buzzby

I see this as a result of the rampant abuse of California's medical marijuana laws.

Everyone knows that a large percentage of people with medical marijuana recommendations are simply recreational users scamming the system. If these people are willing to abuse the system in that way, they'd surely abuse it by showing up to work stoned. Unless medical marijuana is truly restricted to people with a serious medical condition, employers are going to believe that people with recommendations are just stoners trying to get away with something.

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MasterCylinder

60 Minutes did a piece on the abuse of the California Medpot Laws. 200 bucks and a lame excuse is all it takes.

Quiet420

Give me a break.

Marijuana helps people deal with all kinds of medical conditions, it has more legitimate indications than aspirin.

Yes, there are a small number of people who fraudulantly obtain a recomendation, but even those people shouldn't be fired because they test positive for off the job marijuana use, they should be fired because they are fraudulant douchebags.

FunkySkunky

I'm sure there are a handful of doctors who would give you a prescription for anything but the majority of doctors authorized to hand out medcannabis scripts are more than likely serious about their profession and wouldn't jeopardize their career. Sure, there are people who receive medicinal cannabis and don't technically need it... good for them.

 

Darque Pervert

I think the numbers of fraudulent MMJ card holders in the state of California would surprise you. I would also hope it would appall you.

There are more than a handful, I'm certain.

The fact is that Prop 215 has been twisted into somehting that the good intentions of the bill never realized or considered.
You know what they say: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Don't get me wrong. Prop215 is a step forward in the legalization debate. However, the good intention of the bill has been usurped by the significant loopholes that are overwhelmingly exploited by stoners who can craft a plausible story.

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Life is always a spiral. It's the choices of the individual as to whether that spiral is aimed up or down.

Quiet420

I have faith that the number would actually suprise you.

If someone has a medical condition, and that condition is less damaging when they use marijuana to treat it, under a doctors recomendation, then they are not frauds.

The only cases of actual frauds I'm aware of are the instances of reporters and the like running exposes. Not to say that others are not out there, but the fraud issue is greatly exaggerated.

Good news though:

from CA Supreme Court Rules Employers Can Discriminate Against Workers Using Medical Marijuana

Assemblyman Mark Leno announced that he will sponsor a bill to restore workers' rights to use medical marijuana. "Today's California Supreme Court ruling strikes a serious blow to patientsπ rights," stated Leno. " Through the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996 and SB 420 in 2004, the people of California did not intend that patients be unemployed in order to use medical marijuana."

Buzzby

You don't even have to craft a plausible story. Any story will do. All you really need is $150 cash-in-hand.

sterbo

And what exactly are those "numbers"?

Of course it was considered but as is the case with most processes that challange the status quo one has to compromise to get a foothold on the path to one's goal.

Hardly "usurped". "Significant loopholes"? Yes, unfortunately there are a couple of unintentional loopholes but let's congratulate the huge number of people who have sacrificed so much to get us this far. If you want to take aim at the inequities of the situation then focus on those both in and outside the movement that don't give a damn about anything other than their own selfish moment.
Let's not forget that we're a community of individuals dedicated to legitimizing the use of marihuana and as such how about we don't play into the hands of the naysayers and instead put our energy towards solidarity in the face of a foe who is both insidious and relentless in their march to destroy us...

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MasterCylinder

All medical doctors in California can prescribe or rather write a recommendation for MMJ but I think very few of them will.
The MMJ law in California needs to be re-written and be a little more specific about the conditions it can be used for.