Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jan 2008
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Copyright: 2008 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.starbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/196
Alert: Use Medical Marijuana - Lose Your Job 
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0361.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

MEDICAL POT USERS NEED JOB PROTECTION

The Issue

The California Supreme Court has ruled that employers may fire 
workers for using doctor-prescribed marijuana for medical purposes.

THE latest threat to ailing people who use doctor-recommended 
marijuana to ease their pain comes from a strange ruling by the 
California Supreme Court. The court ruled that employers may fire 
workers for using marijuana for medical purposes, which will prompt 
legislation to undo the ruling's damage. As one of 11 states that 
have legalized medical use of cannabis, Hawaii should enact similar 
workplace protections.

In a 5-2 ruling last week, the California high court upheld the 
firing Gary Ross, a former Air Force mechanic who used marijuana to 
ease the pain from injuries to his lower back in a fall off an 
airplane in 1983. A doctor prescribed the marijuana, but the court 
ruled that California's legalization of marijuana deals with criminal 
prosecution, not terms of employment.

Laws allowing medical use of marijuana were approved by California 
voters in 1996 and by the Hawaii Legislature four years later. As 
many as a thousand Hawaii residents have been registered with the 
state to use marijuana to treat their illnesses.

Those laws have been attacked by the Bush administration, which won a 
U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 that subjects medical marijuana 
users to prosecution. However, that decision does not cover workplace rules.

The telecommunications company that fired Ross argued that it feared 
a raid by federal authorities. A state assemblyman from San Francisco 
said he plans to introduce a bill to provide medical marijuana users 
some workplace protections.

Left over from last year's Hawaii Legislature is a bill that would 
expand the use of medical marijuana and restrict physicians' role to 
conform with court rulings. While the California ruling does not 
apply to Hawaii, a precautionary provision providing 
workplace-protection should be attached to that bill and enacted into law. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake