Possible Solutions

My Personal Proposal:

I do not believe it is acceptable or fair for an employer to discriminate against a [potential] employee possessing a medical marijuana card. However, I do believe that some things should occur to protect both employers and employees. Until marijuana becomes federally legal, I think that state laws concerning marijuana in the workplace should be non-discriminatory to medical marijuana users. Below is a list of possible solutions to eliminate discrimination in the workplace for employees who do possess a medical marijuana card.

1. Eliminate screening for marijuana in employees or potential employees.
2. Create a "do not ask, do not tell" work environment, concerning marijuana usage.
3. Employer's should not have to accommodate on-the-clock marijuana usage for those with medical marijuana cards, but should accommodate an individual's needs by either altering shifts or granting time off.
4. Employers have the right to discipline employees based on a good-faith belief that the employee was impaired by marijuana on company property or during work hours, regardless if they possess a medical marijuana card.
5. Employees in safety-sensitive positions (drivers, contractors, etc.) who possess a medical marijuana card should especially be educated on the dangers of performing their work duties while impaired from marijuana, and are subject to immediate termination if there is reasonable belief they may have been impaired while performing work duties.

Possible Solution Currently in the Making:

In December of 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act. This vote marked the first time in half a century that a chamber of Congress voted on a bill to end the federal prohibition of marijuana. The MORE Act is one of the most powerful marijuana reform bills ever introduced. If enacted, the MORE Act would end the war on marijuana at the federal level by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act and ending criminal penalties under federal law. And by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act, it will likely be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. What does this mean, you might ask. This means that employer's would have to accommodate their employee's who have a medical marijuana card, and not discriminate against those employees.

On May 12, 2021, a Congressman from Ohio introduced a bill called "Common Sense Cannabis Reform for Veterans, Small Businesses, and Medical Professionals Act. This bill takes significant steps to modernize our laws by removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and allowing the VA to prescribe medical cannabis to veterans, as well as finally permitting state-legal cannabis businesses to use traditional financial services (Congressman David Joyce, 2021).

Take Action

As you can see from above, steps are being taken by some members of legislation to decriminalize marijuana, make it federally legal, and eliminate medical marijuana discrimination in the workplace. Some states have changed their language to be less discriminatory, but as long as marijuana remains federally illegal, we should expect to continue to see employers having zero-tolerance drug policies in place. The Marijuana Policy Project is an organization that began in 1995. It has been responsible for changing most of the state marijuana laws that have been reformed since 2000, including more than a dozen medical cannabis laws and the legalization of marijuana by voter initiative in Colorado, Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Michigan, Montana, and South Dakota. Their website makes it easy for you to follow along with current marijuana policies, and they also have a cool and easy little tool that allows you to send an email to your U.S. Representative to support the MORE Act, which I described briefly above. Click here to email your U.S. Representative in support of the MORE Act