Benefit Held For Patient Fired From Walmart for Medicating

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This story is coming out off Battle Creek, Michigan. Last year after a workplace injury, Joseph Casias, age 30, was fired after THC was found in his system in a routine drug screening. Now Joseph is a seriously ill cancer patient, and only used the herb after work to help with pain. And he was using it upon the recommendation he received from his oncologist! But that wasn’t enough for the corporate giant Walmart, no. To them he’s just another criminal, not a patient. Walmart even tried to deny Joseph his unemployment benefits, but failed. This type of injustice just shows how shaky the laws that are supposed to protect patients can be, and how desperatley our country needs change. For the full story, click here.

“I just don’t understand why it is so bad to use something that helps me and many others who suffer with illnesses and pain,” Casias said. ”Why would you not want to help people who are suffering with high levels of pain? Where is the compassion for your fellow man?”

“Medical marijuana helps me and a lot of others, and I am grateful for every person who helps sick patients with their medicine and information on medical marijuana, because without people like them I would not know what I know today,” Casias said.

I think its time for us all to step up and help one of our own. This former Walmart Associate of the Year has been betrayed by the company he was so loyal to, now we need to do what we can. A three-day Great Lakes Compassion Benefit for Joseph Casias has been set for Friday, September 16 through Sunday, September 18, at Lucky Lake Campground, 3977 West Wilke Road, Montague, Michigan. If your in the area do your best to attend, I know I will be.

Former Staffers: Drugs Rampant At Police Telemarketing Center

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Photo: Listverse

Fraternal Order of Police telemarketers are on drugs.

​Two former employees say that illegal drug use was rife at the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police call center when they worked there recently.

“People would go smoke weed on their 10-minute break and come back smelling rank,” claimed Cameron Duncan, a psychology major at Ball State University who quit his job at the call center in April, reports Seth Slabaugh at the Muncie Star Press.

Another former employee, Gareth Bowlin, said when he worked at the Fraternal Order of Police call center last year, “everybody did drugs in the parking lot, smoking weed and dealing pills; it was nothing but a big drug area. One girl they fired, she was so messed up on pills she fell asleep during a phone call.”

Graphic: Carmel Lodge 185

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The state FOP, which solicits donations from the public using the center’s telemarketers, said it would be cost-prohibitive to put drug testing in place because the call center has a high turnover rate among its 60 or so telephone sales representatives.

That high turnover rate is actually quite understandable, as is the impulse to get messed up on something and to stay that way — let’s face it, telemarketing is a shit job, at least from the perspective of most of us.

The allegations of rampant drug use come as no surprise to the Indiana Troopers Association (ITA), which used the same telemarketing consultant, Atlanta-based John Keller, that the FOP uses.

“John Keller will tell you convicted felons are the very best telemarketers, a little abrasive and brazen,” said Allen Stout, an attorney for the ITA. “He refers to them as having strong voices. He’s not at all reluctant, in fact he seeks to hire them. You can pay them less because they have a hard time finding jobs.”

According to Stout, when the ITA retained his law firm years ago, the firm put their own call center managers in place, based on reports of pervasive drug use in the centers like the ones coming from the FOP facility.

In 2009, ITA sued Keller, accusing him of fraud, unethical practices, theft, deception, racketeering and driving the Troopers Association into bankruptcy. Keller denied those allegations and countersued for defamation of character.

Graphic: Lori Dyan

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“John Keller put ITA into bankruptcy and put them out of business,” Stout said. “They could not compete with his financial capabilities. If the FOP ever challenges him or the way he conducts business or the distribution of the money or the expenses, the FOP won’t be able to compete with him, either.”

Before former employee Duncan quit his job at the FOP call center, the FOP began cracking down on pot-smoking during breaks, firing several stoner employees, the BSU student said.

“I’d say 70 percent to 90 percent of the call center employees have been in jail,” Duncan said. “If the public knew who they were talking to on the phone, they wouldn’t donate. We can’t tell them we are officers, but we sound authoritative. We can’t tell the public what percentage of their donation goes to the FOP or they wouldn’t donate. If they ask, we say the actual percent won’t be known until the fundraiser is over. If they are persistent, we give them the number to the main office [in Indianapolis].”

One employee, Justin Speed, 21, continued to be employed at the police telemarketing center after his arrest during 2009 on charges including heroin possession.

But Speed (his real name, honest) was fired after being arrested again in Winchester, Indiana in March on charges of possession of a narcotic drug, possession of marijuana and “maintaining a common nuisance.” During a search of the house Speed shared with others, police claimed they found a loaded shotgun, marijuana, a “large number” of morphine tablets and a bunch of Indiana Fraternal Order of Police decals.

The decals are given to FOP donors.

Duncan said the crackdown on drug use went beyond firing a few stoners.

“Now they can’t go to their cars during break without a manager,” Duncan said. “But they can do drugs before they come to work. If they did drug testing, a lot of people wouldn’t come to work.”

State FOP Treasurer Patrick Scher, a city police detective from Huntington, confirmed at least one firing but declined to say why the termination was made.

“After that happened, we instituted a policy if I am the manager and you are a worker and need something from your car … I will say, ‘OK, let’s go to your car and get it,’ ” Scher said. “The reason we did that is because of the possibility of a person going to his car and either getting something illegal or doing something illegal.”

The cost of preemployment drug screening “would be astronomical to us,” Scher said. “With our employment there, we might hire seven or eight people a week because seven or eight quit. We have a big turnover in employees.”

Go figure.

WA Supreme Court: You Can Be Fired For Medical Cannabis

Photo: LawyersandSettlements.com

If you live in Washington state, it doesn’t even matter if medical marijuana is legal. You can be fired for using it — even legally — even if only if your off hours.

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Employers in Washington state are allowed to fire employees who fail a drug test, even if they have a valid medical marijuana authorization, the state Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The court ruled that TeleTech Customer Care, a Colorado-based company that handles customer service for Sprint from its facility in Bremerton, Washington, was allowed to fire a woman for failing its required drug test, even though she is a legal medical marijuana patient, reports J.B. Wogan at the Seattle Times.

The plaintiff was pulled out of her training class after just a week and fired on the spot on October 18, 2006, because she failed a pre-employment drug screen. She had a valid medical marijuana authorization from her doctor, and sued under the name Jane Roe.

The company claimed in court documents that its contract with Sprint required drug testing and makes no exception for medical marijuana.

Photo: Jenkins Family Blog

Washington Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers is the only friend medical marijuana patients have on the state’s highest court.

​ Roe’s attorney argued that Washington state law implied employers had to accommodate medical marijuana use outside the workplace. The court disagreed in a 8-1 decision, saying the law explicitly permits employers to disallow on-site medical marijuana use, but says nothing about such use outside the workplace.

The majority opinion noted that the state Human Rights Commission, which investigates employee discrimination cases, cannot pursue claims related to medical marijuana use because it is still illegal under federal law.

The law needs to be modified to protect employees’ right to legally use medical marijuana outside of work, according to Roe’s attorney, Michael Subit.

“The court said it wasn’t clear enough, so I hope the Legislature or the voters [through the initiative process] make it clear enough that no one can mistake it in the future,” Subit said.

Justice Tom Chambers, unfortunately in this case the only clear thinker on the Court, wrote the dissenting opinion, arguing that voters intended to protect patients who were authorized to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

He pointed out that TeleTech had a drug-screening policy that prohibited employees from using marijuana, even if it did not affect job performance. In fact, TeleTech did not even try to offer evidence that Roe’s marijuana use — to control migraines — impaired her ability to work.

So what we’re left with is some misguided policy of making enormous moral judgments about medical marijuana patients overruling rationality.

Justice Chambers rightly pointed out that the court’s decision “jeopardizes the clear policy” of the 1998 voter initiative and would discourage other people from seeking legal medical marijuana treatment for fear of getting fired.

Man Versus Drug Test

As a person who has been using marijuana illegally for over half of his life, I have had to adopt tricks and techniques to get by in the “real world.” One of the most uncomfortable situations is passing a pre-employment drug screening.

Now, I’m not advocating dishonesty with your employer but a urinalysis unfairly punishes weed smokers while cokeheads and meth addicts get a free pass since those drugs only show up in a urinalysis within 72 hours of use while marijuana can stay in the system for 30 days or more. I don’t smoke before work (usually) and it never affects my ability to perform the functions of my job, but after a long day, nothing sounds better then a big, green bowl.

First off, if you can just stop smoking for thirty days then do it. It’s the simple solution to this situation. However, sometimes you don’t have that much time to prepare so you have to improvise. I have had to take ten to fifteen of these tests over the years with a 100% success rate.

I just got a new job last week and had to give a urine sample for testing. There are too important elements when it comes to effectively passing: obtaining a clean sample and keeping it within temperature. We all have friends that don’t smoke and they are the best sources of clean urine. I’ve heard of people using the fake stuff you can order over the internet or buy at your local head-shops and passing but why pay for the fake stuff when you can get the real thing for free? I just have my buddy fill up a balloon or an unlubricated condom and seal it up. I then drive strait to the facility with the “container” of urine on my dash with the defrost on to help keep the temperature high.

This is where it can get tricky. Since you are just taking a pre-employment screening, they cannot search you, so I “hide” the “container” in my underwear and bring a small pair of nail clippers and hide the clippers in a pocket or my shoe. I then carefully walk in to the facility and register. When they call me to take the test, they usually ask you to remove all items for your pockets but I am sure to keep the nail clippers in my pocket. Once they close the door, I use the clippers to clip a hole in the “container” and fill up the cup. I then empty the remaining “sample” into the toilet and hide the empty “container” in my shoe.

I don’t like to have to do this and if there was an easier way I would use it. However this is the world we live in and until there is real change, I am forced to play this stupid game. Incidentally, I would be remiss in not at least pointing out that if you are a meth addict or cokehead and want help, addiction treatment and information is available online.

http://www.theweedblog.com/man-vs-drug-test/