Ep. 41 - Cannabis Legalization: What Employers Need To Know (Part 2)

Cannabis users are both considered criminals and protected under federal laws.  What a mess.  One of the most significant issues surrounding cannabis use, especially in states where medical marijuana is legal, is the ability to use state-sanctioned medical marijuana, which is typically protected under disability laws, but yet can also be punitive as employers are allowed to terminate employees for cannabis use. Another pressing concern is how workers’ compensation activities will be affected by an employee’s medical marijuana use. 

In this episode of Cannabis Nurse Truths,  we continue to review how privacy laws, medical freedom, and workers’ compensation issues all have a significant impact on employers’ workplace policies, and we offer recommendations that employers should begin to consider as cannabis legalization is likely implemented in the near future. 

EPISODE RESOURCES

Anderson, D. M., Hansen, B., & Rees, D.I. (2013). Medical marijuana laws, traffic fatalities, and alcohol consumption. Journal of Law and Economics, 56(2), 333–369. https://docs.iza.org/dp6112.pdf 

Barnett, G. (2023, July 31). A growing number of companies are dropping marijuana drug testing. WTOP News. https://wtop.com/business-finance/2023/07/a-growing-number-of-companies-drop-marijuana-drug-testing/#:~:text=But%20some%20businesses%20have%20done,looking%20to%20hire%2C%20Clayton%20said   

Carnide, N., Lee, H., Frone, M.R., Furlan, A.D., & Smith, P.M. (2021). Patterns and correlates of workplace and non-workplace cannabis use among Canadian workers before the legalization of non-medical cannabis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 218, 108386. https://oem.bmj.com/content/oemed/79/12/824.full.pdf  

Chakraborty, A., Doremus, J., & Stith, S. (2020). The effects of recreational cannabis access on labor markets: Evidence from Colorado. IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 10(1). https://sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/izajole-2021-0005  

Dylan, D., & Soltys, J. (2020). Accommodating the unknown: Balancing employee human rights with the employer duty to ensure safety: A Dialogue on Stewart v Elk Valley and the Cannabis Act.  Canadian Journal of Human Rights, 9(1), 57. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/canajo9&div=6&id=&page=  

Hazle, M.C., Hill, K.P., & Westreich, L.M. (2022). Workplace cannabis policies: A moving target. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, 7(1), 16-23. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8864412/  

Hire Right. (2023, June). Employers Guide to Legalized Marijuana (Medical & Adult Use/Recreational).  E-book retrieved from https://www.hireright.com/resources/employers-guide-to-legalized-medical-and-recreational-marijuana  

Howard, J., Wurzelbacher, S., Osborne, J., Wolf, J., Ruser, J., & Chadarevian, R. (2021). Review of cannabis reimbursement by workers’ compensation insurance in the US and Canada. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 64(12), 989-1001. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajim.23294  

Green, C.P, & Paniagua, M.N. (2016). Play hard, shirk hard? The effect of bar hours regulation on worker absence. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Departm