Calif. Firms Can Fire Medical Marijuana Users

State's High Court Finds Compassionate Use Act Does Not Affect Employers' Rights

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24 -- The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers can fire workers who test positive for marijuana even if they have a note from a doctor recommending its use for medical reasons.

The 5 to 2 ruling came in a state that was the first to legalize cannabis for medical use but has followed up with ambiguity and ambivalence about making it a reality.

In the latest ruling, the high court said a Sacramento company had the right to fire Gary Ross in 2001 after a routine drug test came back positive for marijuana. Ross showed RagingWire Inc. a copy of his physician's recommendation to smoke the drug to relieve chronic back pain from three lumbar vertebrae fractured when he fell off the wing of an F-16 as an Air Force mechanic in 1983.

"From 1999 when my doctor started recommending medical marijuana, I can stop that spasm from getting into a knot and I don't need any pain medication," said Ross, adding he smokes only when he experiences spasms. "Prior to 1999 I was carted off in an ambulance a half a dozen times. Since 1999, only once."

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More at link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402163.html?hpid=sec-health

under the influence of any medication.

I don't know if Ross had a job that requires sobriety for safety's sake.

I feel bad for him but don't think this court ruling is a bad thing.

I can't think of any jobs that you couldn't do while using pot.

Any job that requires fast reaction times, like driving in traffic, shouldn't be done while under the influence of any psychoactive substance.

Smoking on the job is out. However, having it in your system with a legal prescription for it should be no cause for firing, just like having prescribed opiates show up in a drug test is no cause for firing.

They're treating pot a lot differently from other drugs in this case, and that's what's wrong.

Two decades of research show that marijuana use may actually reduce driver accidents.

The effects of marijuana use on driving performance have been extensively researched over the last 20 years. All major studies show that marijuana consumption has little or no effect on driving ability, and may actually reduce accidents. Here's a summary of the biggest studies into pot use and driving.

A 1983 study by the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) concluded that the only significant affect of cannabis use was slower driving - arguably a positive effect of driving high.

More Studies: http://www.cannabisculture.com/news/driving

back in my stoner days. I knew a lot of high functioning researchers at MIT who were still stoners. Something you struggle with while straight, such as negotiating heavy traffic (don't lie, we all find it stressful) is going to be difficult stoned. Something you find easy and do almost mechanically is not going to be affected.

Shouldn't medical marijuana be treated as alcohol at the very least as far as jobs go? I believe that their are some jobs that one should not be drunk at, yet it is fine to use after work.

...comparison would be to another prescription drug that affects alertness, e.g. Valium or codeine.

I presume it would be a simple matter to amend Prop 215 to make it illegal to discriminate against patients for taking their meds.