Florida School District Fires Marine Veteran Over Medical Marijuana Use

A school district in Florida decided to fire the dean of Belleview High School in Marion County for using medical marijuana. Mike Hickman, a Marine veteran who fought in Iraq during Gulf Storm, was prescribed medical marijuana by a doctor to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

While medical marijuana is legal in Florida, it illegal under federal law. 

School officials learned that Hickman had been using marijuana after he was injured while breaking up a fight between two students. He was treated by a workers' compensation doctor who discovered the drug in a urine test and notified the school district.

The district told Hickman he could keep his job and would only be suspended if he agreed to stop using medical marijuana. He refused, and the Marion County School Board voted 5-0 to dismiss him.

The district claims that they had to fire Hickman after he refused to stop using medical marijuana. Officials said that because marijuana is illegal under federal law, they could lose federal funding if they allowed employees to use marijuana.

The Marion County teachers union voiced support for Hickman, blasting the district for terminating him.

"Imagine if this employee just sat back and let the two students continue to fight without regard for their safety, we wouldn't be here right now," Chris Altobello, an executive director who represents both the teachers and support personnel unions, told the Ocala Star-Banner.

"Or if we were, it would have been for not intervening," he continued. "He was no more impaired than someone who took an aspirin for a headache. They implied that this is tantamount to smoking pot in the boys' bathroom!"

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