On October 27, 1970 the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act was enacted. Title II of the act was the Controlled Substances Act, which established categories varying from Schedule I to Schedule V. Schedule I was the strictest classification, and Schedule V was the least strict. Marijuana was categorized as Schedule I, which prohibited its use completely- for any purpose.
And then there's some progress.
Fast forward to January of 1995. This is when the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) was founded - the largest organization in the United States with the sole purpose of ending marijuana prohibition. And then California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. The Clinton administration was opposed to this, and threatened to revoke prescription-writing abilities of physicians who recommended or prescribed marijuana (Marijuana Policy Project, 2021). In 2000, a group of physicians challenged that as a violation of First Amendment Rights, and in September of that same year, they prevailed in the case Conant v. McCaffrey - which allows physicians to only recommend medical marijuana...not prescribe it.
Fast forward again.
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the federal government's ability to enforce federal law in states that have legalized medical marijuana.
And this is where we are.
Slowly over the years, states started to legalize medical marijuana. However, because medical marijuana is still not federally legal, some people still continue to be discriminated against for possessing a medical marijuana card. This ESPECIALLY occurs in the workforce because the Americans with Disabilities Act does not protect against medical marijuana. Here is an example:
Washington has legalized medical marijuana. Washington allows employers to establish a drug-free workplace policy. Not a big deal. This is understandable, in my opinion. However, employers may REFUSE TO HIRE or FIRE employees who test positive for marijuana on a drug test, regardless if it was off duty or not. Other states like Oregon, Ohio, New Mexico, Michigan, Colorado, California have a similar policy, but they even specify that they will still fire an employee for failing a drug test regardless if they have a valid medical marijuana card (Barreiro, 2021).
Fortunately, many other states have strong specific language in their medical marijuana laws that actually protect employee's from this discrimination. For example, West Virginia's law states:
No employer may discharge, threaten, refuse to hire or otherwise discriminate or retaliate against an employee regarding an employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, location or privileges solely on the basis of such employee’s status as an individual who is certified to use medical cannabis. (Marijuana Policy Project, 2021).
But we might be making a step in the right direction. Check out my "Possible Solutions" page to learn more.
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