Editor's Note: Forbes does a great job here of outlining the issues on the table regarding employers and their handling of marijuana use by employees, specifically as it pertains to medical marijuana. But even today, with marijuana use legal to all adults over age 21 in four states, how long can employers in those states continue to include marijuana in drug-testing regimes? If it's legal, why should employers be able to terminate someone's employment if that employee has marijuana in his/her system? It can be compared to firing someone for alcohol use–because they had a few drinks the night before a drug test. (Being intoxicated on the job is a different issue for both alcohol and marijuana. And, as Forbes mentions, being a Federal employee is a different ball game as long as marijuana is still considered illegal by the Feds.) It will be interesting to see how these issues play out for both medical and recreational cannabis use.
There are now 24 jurisdictions with laws that legalize use of marijuana for medical purposes. Five of those jurisdictions–Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia–have gone so far as to legalize the drug for recreationaluse, with similar legislation pending or under consideration in a number of other states. Because state statutes in this area are generally very new, most have not yet had opportunity for judicial interpretation. This means there is little (if any) guidance–even generally–about what the statutes mean, much less any clear direction for employers that are trying to grapple with whether–and, if so, how–their employment policies and practices should be modified to take into account the new statutes. Compounding the uncertainty for employers is that federal law continues to prohibit marijuana use, distribution, and possession for any reason.
