COLORADO IN THE NEWS DrugSense FOCUS Alert #432 - Friday, 12 February 2010 While not yet rivaling the medical cannabis dispensary news from California there has been a substantial increase in medical marijuana news from Colorado. On December 28, 2000 the Constitution of Colorado was amended to include medical marijuana. That makes Colorado different than other states where laws were passed by initiative or the state legislature. Read Section 14 of the Colorado Constitution at http://mapinc.org/url/NU0HpB5k Please note that for magazines, with very rare exceptions, the cover date or Pubdate is the date that the magazine is removed from sale. Now and in the future news clippings specific to Colorado appear at http://www.mapinc.org/states/co/ , dispensary items at http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries and United Stated medicinal cannabis items at http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 . Many of the news clippings may be worthy targets for your letters to the editor. Sustaining all the activities of DrugSense in support of the reform community is difficult in these hard economic times. Please consider giving what you can. Details are at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm Pubdate: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 Source: Newsweek (US) Copyright: 2010 Newsweek, Inc. Contact: Author: Tony Dokoupil, NEWSWEEK COLORADO'S DOPE DILEMMA With more medical-marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks outlets, Denver has emerged as the per capita frontrunner for curative ganja. As more residents partake of doctor-prescribed pot, however, questions are emerging about where the line is between an employee's right to use medical marijuana and an employer's right to a drug-free office. Employers, of course, don't need to accommodate a worker who shows up stoned. But can someone who legally tokes on his own time, and whose performance isn't hurt, be fired for failing a drug test? "We're in uncharted territory," says Vance Knapp, a Denver employment lawyer who expects the issue to be tested in the courts soon. So far, judges in California, Washington, Montana, and Oregon have sided with employers. But because Colorado's medical-marijuana laws are in its constitution, not just statutes, legal experts give the edge in any test case to employees. That could mean a breakthrough victory for users, swinging momentum their way and giving pro-patient lawyers in other states much-needed--if nonbinding--precedent. Suggestions for Writing LTEs Are at Our Media Activism Center http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Prepared by: Richard Lake, Senior Editor www.mapinc.org =.

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