Medical Marijuana and Drug Testing in the Work Place

Medical marijuana and drug testing in the work place had been receiving significant amount of publicity in the last few years. A crucial case law and contradictory legislations in various states had been adding to the confusion. Many employers are unaware of their rights and the steps they should take to protect themselves from punitive actions by state and federal governments, if an employee had been permitted to use marijuana medically and pass a drug test with marijuana present in the body in the workplace.

In 2005, the U.S. Suprement Court passed a verdict that the employer possessed the right to refuse acceptance of medical marijuana as a medical reason if an employee tested positively for a drug. This case is known as Gonzales vs. Raich or Ashcroft vs. Raich. Still, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accepted and passed by majority of state and the federal governments allow the employer to consider the accommodation of an employee, if the medical condition of the employee had allowed the recommendation of specific medical marijuana use.

Still, the employee with medical marijuana use should take certain precautions to pass a drug test. If a physician had prescribed smoked marijuana to a patient, the medical marijuana laws in 13 states protect them from criminal liability. These states are Alaska, California, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Hawaii, Montana, Maryland, Oregon, Nevada, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Washington. Still, these states had also set limitations on the amount of marijuana that the patient or the caregiver could purchase, possess, obtain, or grow. The laws of these states are basically inconsistent with the federal laws on medical marijuana to pass a drug test.

The entire issue is complicated by the confusion among human resources managers. These managers are not sure whether random drug testing of their employees would amount to discrimination under the ADA. They are also not sure whether they could question candidates for job on use of marijuana. Further, they do not know whether they should accommodate offsite use or after-hours use of medical marijuana. Such uses could lead to the employees testing positive for drug in the workplace, though there had been no consumption of marijuana in the work site.

Since most business organizations have policies that require the termination of the employee if tested positive for Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main drug ingredient in marijuana or force the employee to participate in a treatment program. The Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 specifically prohibits companies receiving federal contracts from allowing marijuana use by employees. This Act is in contradiction with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This medical marijuana issue is further compounded by the liability on the part of the employer. If an employee had consumed marijuana and a customer is affected in any way by the actions of the employee, the employer would be sued by the customer and not the employee.

The latest ruling by the Suprement Court in California in 2008 in the RagingWire Enterprise Solutions that the employer need not accommodate medical marijuana use either in the workplace or outside is of great significance. This ruling is of great significance, requiring employees to pass a drug test under all types of circumstances, overriding medical marijuana laws.

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To know more about drug testing in the work place and how to pass a drug test without any hassles, please visit the website http://www.discreetherbal.com

Hawaii Teachers Union Fends Off Random Drug Testing Proposal

by Phillip Smith

There will be no random drug testing of Hawaii public school teachers. A battle that began in 2007 came to a quiet end earlier this month, when the state government imposed its “last, best, and final” offer to the teachers union — an offer that does not include random drug testing.

Hawaii teachers won’t have to provide these to keep their jobs. (image via wikimedia.org)

The controversy began when the state Board of Education inserted language into the union contract saying the union and the board “shall establish a reasonable suspicion and random drug and alcohol testing procedure for teachers.” The language came in the wake of a handful of widely publicized drug busts of teachers in Hawaii in previous years.

Hawaii State Teachers Association members voted to ratify the contract, but soon, teachers and the HSTA, along with civil libertarians, raised concerns about random drug testing and balked at going along with that contract provision. Gov. Linda Lingle (R) accused teachers of not acting in good faith, and the provision was stalled by challenges at the Hawaii Labor Relations Board and in state court.

The random testing provision ran into another obstacle when the Board of Education in 2008 refused to pay for the tests. The board argued that the nearly half million dollar cost could be better spent in the classroom.

Neither the board nor the union have commented publicly on the demise of the random drug testing provision, but, unsurprisingly, the ACLU is quite happy.

“The ACLU is pleased that none of Hawaii’s educators has been subjected to unconstitutional random drug testing,” said Daniel Gluck, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Hawaii. “I’m fairly confident it’s not going to come up again,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

While random drug testing is gone, the board and the union agreed to continue a reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing policy. Under that policy, teachers who test positive face suspensions of from five to thirty days and will be asked to resign after a third positive test result. Teachers who admit to being impaired or on drugs prior to being tested will not be suspended, but will be required to submit to drug testing for up to a year.

The dropping of the random drug testing provision is one of the few bright spots for Hawaii teachers in the new contract. They may not have to pee in a cup for no good reason, but they will have to endure wage cuts and higher health care premiums.

Medical Marijuana Could Cost Epilitic Man Custody of His Daughter

A  Michigan father is in jeopardy of losing custody of his 10-year-old daughter, all because he can legally smoke marijuana.

Livingston Thompson Jr. has epilepsy.

He’s been dealing with it for 20 years, and according to him, nothing has really helped except for the marijuana.

“It relaxes me. I’m not as stressed. I discovered that my epileptic seizures — some of them are stress activated,” says Thompson.

Still, his medication of choice could cost him his daughter, Shylynn.

“If I lost custody of my daughter it would crush me. They’d probably see a lot more episodes,” he says.

That’s something Shylynn can’t handle.

“If my daddy lost custody of me I’d be sad, just as sad as he would be if he lost custody of me. Because my dad has had me for ten years. And I don’t want to lose my dad,” says Shylynn.

Last year, Thompson spanked his daughter and Child Protective Services was called.

It was decided that Shylynn wasn’t in any danger and could return home, but Thompson now has to get periodic drug testing.

“I explained to the judge that should be modified because my client has a medical marijuana card,” says attorney Charles Ford.

The judge has decided that marijuana is not the best treatment for his epilepsy and that it’s in the best interest of the child that the parents are drug free.

The bigger question here is, with a state law that’s so unclear, could other parents fall into the same situation?

“If he tested positive there’s a strong possibility that he could lose his child,” says Ford.

Thompson says this is a fight he can’t afford to lose.

“I don’t want to lose my family,” adds Shylynn.

Thompson can choose to appeal the judge’s decision.

He can make the case that his medical marijuana does not impair his judgment as a father and that he needs it for his medical condition.

If he doesn’t appeal, then he has to stop using, otherwise she could be taken from the household.

An appeal would be precedent-setting because this is really the first time a judge has interpreted the law like this.

If the decision stands, then similar cases could have the same outcome.

read more: http://www.thcfinder.com/marijuana-blog/medical-marijuana/2011/06/medical-marijuana-could-cost-epileptic-man-custody-of-daughter#ixzz1QbgULnnI

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/