24/01/2008 00:00:00
US: Medical Marijuana Uers Can be Fired - California Supreme Court
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS CAN BE FIRED, California Supreme Court rules
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers in the state
can fire workers found to have used medical marijuana legally
recommended by doctors.
The company, Ragingwire Inc., successfully argued it rightfully fired
Gary Ross after he flunked a company-ordered drug test because all
marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the
medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.
Ross held a medical marijuana card authorizing him to legally use
marijuana to treat a back injury he sustained while serving in the U.S.
Air Force.
A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision declared that state medicinal
marijuana laws don’t protect users from prosecution.
The Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies have been
actively shutting down major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout
the state over the last two years and charging their operators with
serious felony distributions charges.
The company said it fired Ross because it feared it could be the target
of a federal raid, among other reasons.
Ragingwire, a small telecommunications company in Sacramento, has been
joined in the Supreme Court by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation
Authority and the Western Electrical Contractors Association Inc., who
said companies could lose federal contracts and grants if they allowed
employees to smoke pot.
The conservative nonprofit Pacific Legal Foundation said in a
friend-of-the court filing that employers could also be liable for
damage done by high workers.
Ross had argued that medical marijuana users should receive the same
workplace protection from discipline that employees with valid
painkiller prescriptions do. California voters legalized medicinal
marijuana in 1996.
The nonprofit marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, which
is represented Ross, estimates that 300,000 Americans use medical marijuana.
The Oakland-based group said it has received hundreds of employee
discrimination complaints in California since it first began tracking
the issue in 2005.
The American Medical Association advocates keeping marijuana classified
as a tightly controlled and dangerous drug that should not be legalized
until more research is done.
Northern California has been a hotbed for legal cases surrounding
medical marijuana.
In December, three pot clubs in Oakland, Fairfax and Ukiah lost what
appeared to be their final appeal in a long-running battle against a
federal court injunction barring them from giving marijuana to patients.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a
permanent injunction issued by a federal trial judge in 2002 against the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative, Marin Alliance for Medical
Marijuana and Ukiah Cannabis Buyer’s Club.
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=9458
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13198
Author:
San Francisco Sentinel via UKCIA
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