Pubdate: Thu, 14 Feb 2008
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2008 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

MARIJUANA QUANDARY

A recent court decision in California highlights the ongoing dilemma 
faced by medical users of marijuana. Former Air Force mechanic Gary 
Ross sued after the telecommunications company he was working for 
fired him over use of the drug, even though he possessed a doctor's 
recommendation. Mr. Ross had been using marijuana under the state's 
12-year-old Compassionate Use Act to ease chronic pain from a back 
injury. He did not seek to use the drug on the job but rather on his own time.

Nevertheless, in a 5-to-2 ruling, the California Supreme Court found 
that his employer had the right to fire him, which it did after he 
tested positive for marijuana use. (The drug can remain in a user's 
system for a lengthy period.)

This is unfair. As the dissenting justices pointed out, voters who 
approved the nation's first medical-marijuana law, in 1996, probably 
did not envision anyone's being forced to choose between a job and 
pain relief. But the California law does not (unlike Rhode Island's) 
spell out protections against employment discrimination. As a result 
of last month's ruling, California state legislator Mark Leno 
promised to introduce a bill that would protect employees from being 
fired for off-the-job marijuana use.

This only makes sense. American workers use quite an array of 
prescription drugs in their daily lives and enjoy workplace 
protections for doing so, as long as they perform their jobs 
adequately. Marijuana has proved effective in easing the suffering 
that can go along with multiple sclerosis, AIDS, cancer and numerous 
other maladies. The problem is that federal law continues to classify 
it as illegal. Until the federal stance is brought into harmony with 
state medical-use laws, sufferers will continue to face impossible 
predicaments.

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court held that state laws regarding 
marijuana cannot protect users from prosecution. In California, 
federal agencies have lately been shutting down medical-marijuana 
dispensaries and charging those involved with felonies. The high 
court's position clearly informed the California ruling. Still, the 
state court at least left the door open to employment protections 
under an amended law.

Unfortunately, strengthening job protections will not overcome the 
main problem: How are medical users, even employed ones, to legally 
acquire marijuana?

Someone in Congress should muster the fortitude to sponsor national 
legislation. It need not go so far as to endorse a nationwide pot 
party. But it should defer to state efforts to permit compassionate 
use. Some who find relief from marijuana are among the most 
desperately ill. Often, they are terminal cases. In the face of 
changing views about the drug, the federal response has been 
needlessly heavy-handed. In any event, the law should be changed. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake